Romani Berlekov

Boston, MA

“If you are lost in these dark and trying times, I channel this beauty for you to bring you back to your heart. To your sacredness."

Romani Berlekov (she/her/hers) is an unofficial member of the local 'outsider' artist community in the Boston area, and you can find her on any given day on the streets of Boston, painting and selling her creations.  Like so many other friends and colleagues, she is completely self-taught and continues to exuberantly experiment and learn.  Her journey of creation is that of her own evolution.

Romani has been drawing and creating for as long as she can remember. She added oil painting and watercolors to her repertoire during her teens, and more recently began experimenting with acrylics and mixed media.  Creating has been, and continues to be, an amazing meditation which produces pure and joyful manifestations in the physical realm. 

She turned to art as a career during a very difficult time in her life. Romani explains, “Within a couple of years, my life fell apart.” She went from studying at Harvard Extension School and working at a biotechnology pharmaceutical company to battling escalating disabilities - multiple sclerosis and bipolar disorder - coupled with housing insecurity and then, unemployment. She stumbled upon an art therapy program which led her to ArtLifting. She proudly explains, “I was the fifth artist to sign on with Artlifting, and truly, it has helped me survive.”

Romani says her works are not created necessarily to inform or enlighten, but rather to share and reconnect to the beautiful world around us.  Her work bountifully provides the observer with keen reminders of the sheer beauty and subtle grace which is often overlooked in the rush and bustle of our modern society.  Based on a realist orientation with a touch of whimsy, her style is a presentation of simplicity, elegance, grace, and truth.

"There is a particular, subtle magic in the first few hours after daybreak. I find my zen here...

Divinity flickering in the first rays of golden sunlight through the branches of the forest ~ Sacred shimmering atop the waves as they caress a naked shoreline ~ The holiness bursting in the buds of the early spring light...

I grab my canvas, brush, and oils, and walk along the edges of the early morning with you."