Russia and United States
Statement
My art is based on the confluence of natural materials and found relics. Materiality is critical to my work and often the starting place for inspiration; newspaper clippings from letter exchanges with my grandmother, cheesecloth reminiscent of the curdling milk hanging from my mother’s bathroom sinks, snips of hair from poorly planned haircutting experiments. These become the foundation for intimately curated microcosms. From an early age, I spent a great deal of time in nature. Growing up in Rural Russia and then upstate New York, I was always rescuing creatures; birds with broken wings, squirrels that needed weaning, and bugs of every shape and size. Summers were punctuated with time outside, collecting plants and pods. These shapes instill nostalgia in me like old photographs do for others. By capturing these objects and transforming them through drawing or painting, they are given an opportunity to live on in a different form. Artist Ana Mendieta once said of her work: My art is grounded in the belief of one universal energy which runs through everything: from insect to man, from man to spectre, from spectre to plant from plant to galaxy… Similarly, the process of returning to an original state, the cycle of life, which connects us all, is of great inspiration to me. Working within drawing, painting, and sculpture I choose what medium feels most appropriate for any given project, often times combining multiple. I rarely set out with a concrete plan, and am interested in the places in my art that evolve through the process of working; where elements crack, drip, ooze, expose. The sense of interior and exterior is often present, both in the physical sense of elements that can be explored and illustrations of interiors such as the underlying biomechanics in living beings. I strive for a type of viewing experience that provides more than a unilateral exchange. By challenging the notion of size, by blurring the lines of what is real and what is drawn, I ask the viewer to be a participant in my world.
Profile
GlogauAIR resident from January 2018 to June 2018
GlogauAIR Project
Berlin holds conflicting significance for my family. I grew up looking at a photograph of my grandfather triumphantly cheering in front of the Brandenburg gates after the liberation of the city during WWII. Both sets of my grandparents were in Germany for a time as part of the Soviet army following the war, their recollections some of the most troubling and rewarding of their lives. On my first opportunity to visit this past September, it felt like a strange homecoming to a place I had never been. I was struck by how much of the city had been destroyed, the care with which history is preserved and part of the everyday dialogue. No other city I have been is there such a present sense of overcoming adversity. My inspiration lays at the intersection of life cycles; processes of decay and renewal and the interconnectivity of these processes between humans and our natural world. Grounded in the confluence of nature and found relics, materials collected become transformed as the basis for intimately curated worlds. In this new work, root systems have dual meaning in their manifestation. Anthropomorphic in form, they symbolize a connection to the body. The term rooted speaks to becoming grounded, anchoring, and deeply taking hold in the world. Our individual paths are interwoven with the experiences of others. The delicate suspended skin imprints capture a moment in time, an intersection of lives, becoming part of our stories.
CV Summary
Education
- 2009 Maryland Institute College of Art, Painting, B.F.A. cum laude, Baltimore, MD
Selected Exhibitions
- 2018 small/MIGHTY, La Bodega Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
- Fall Salon, The Factory, Long Island City, NY
- The Dark Arts, SquidInk Gallery, Online Exhibition
- Unnatural Selection, Plaxall Gallery, Long Island City, NY
- Wish You Were Here, A.I.R. Gallery, DUMBO, NY
- Uprooted (Rubble Flora), GlogauAIR, Berlin, Germany
- ArtSci, Installation at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin’s Campus Nord Branch Library’s Reading Room Galleries, Berlin, Germany
- Sketch the Moment, Galerie ZeitZone, Berlin, Germany
- 2017 LIC Fear, Plaxall Gallery, Long Island City, NY
- Flora and Fauna, Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA
- Animalia, Local Project, Long Island City, NY
- The Dark Arts, SquidInk Gallery, Online Exhibition
- 2016 Fall Salon Show, LIC Arts Open, Long Island City, NY
- Social Culture Lab, Alewife NYC, Long Island City, NY
- Anamorphic, Port Exhibitions, Staten Island, NY
- Art in Action, Gallery 151, Chelsea, NY
- 2015 Staff Exhibition, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
- 2014 Biomorphs, Governor’s Island, NY
- 2012 Que Sera, Sera, Governor’s Island, NY
- 2011 Land, Sea, Sky, Governor’s Island, NY
- 2010 Reflecting on History, ICO gallery, Chelsea, NY
- Generations 7, A.I.R. Gallery, DUMBO, NY
- Members Show, Rochester Contemporary Gallery, Rochester, NY
- 2009 Thesis Exhibition, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
- Out of Order, Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, MD
- 2008 Animal Party, New York Studio Residency Program, DUMBO, NY
- Abstractions, Main Gallery, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
- Juried Undergraduate Exhibition, Bunting Gallery, Baltimore, MD
- Painting Department show, Fox Gallery, Baltimore, MD
- 2007 Junior Independent Exhibition, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
- Color Abstraction, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
- 2006 Members Exhibition, Rochester Contemporary Gallery, Rochester, NY
- Scholastic Award Exhibition, Bevier Gallery, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY
Awards, Grants, Recognition
- 2014 Figment Project Grant for Biomorphs installation, Governor’s Island, NY
- 2012 Figment Grant for Que Sera, Sera installation, Governor’s Island, NY
- 2009 Allen Ginsberg Prize, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
- 2005-9 Talent Grant, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
- 2005-7 Trustee Award for Artwork, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
- 2008 Student Art leader nomination, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
- 2006 Gold Key, Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, International
- Silver Key, Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, International
