by Yelena Lev Navtikova

Artwork Description

Time Keeper

36.0 x 48.0 inches

In Timekeeper, I enter a dreamlike realm where time is no longer measured—it breathes. It bends, drifts, and watches. I imagine time as a living presence, ancient and aware, moving through all things without beginning or end. The many-headed hare stands as a guardian between worlds. Its multiple gazes hold past, present, and becoming at once. In its arms rests a skull—not as a symbol of fear, but of wisdom earned through transformation. It speaks of death and rebirth as inseparable forces, reminders that nothing truly ends, but rather changes form. The fish float gently through the air, freed from gravity and water alike. For me, they are souls in motion—silent travelers moving toward light, memory, and truth. The luminous spheres drift like distant suns or spiritual portals, suggesting unseen realms that exist just beyond perception. Beneath them, the cracked desert ground carries the quiet memory of creation, revealing both the fragility of life and its enduring resilience. The sand watch measures what cannot be held. Each grain is a moment—slipping from future into memory—marking the fragile beauty of existence. Time passes not as loss, but as passage. At the heart of this work lives love. Not loud or sentimental, but essential and eternal. Love is the force that allows the soul to move gently through time, that transforms loss into wisdom and endings into beginnings. It is love that softens mortality, that binds spirit to spirit across worlds and lifetimes. Even as moments dissolve, love remains—the unseen thread holding all transformation together, breathing continuity into the endless rhythm of becoming.

Artwork Details

Medium: Painting Oil

Genre: Surrealism