A Californian, born and bred, painter Ellen Akimoto found her artistic identity in East-German Leipzig. Loosely associated to the approaches of the New Leipzig School, her practice is characterized by the aim to employ abstract elements within narrative and figurative compositions, giving them a surreal and mysterious twist. There are objects suspended in the air, horses tumbling from the sky, figures disintegrating as they walk and others, whose heads burst or melt in swooshing explosions of color. By that, the artist explores the manifoldness of relationships – those between human beings, their relation to animals and nature, or the affiliation of objects to the surrounding space. This publication offers a survey of works that Akimoto created within the last eight years, accompanied by an insightful essay by curator Lena Fritsch and an interview with the artist.