“Russian-born Zhenya Gershman, originally from Moscow, is a Los Angeles based artist who focuses primarily on portraiture— a natural outcome of her lifelong curiosity about and empathy for people of all walks of life. “I want to connect with people on a deeper level,” she says. “I always want to know more. When you reach below the surface—past the mundane, the everyday—you start lifting things that are deeper and universal and beautiful about each individual.”