Home Artworks Solaris

Solaris

2022

Signed Dated Titled Framed

From the series For all mankind

Size

110 x 95 cm
43 x 37.40 in

Year

2022

Medium

Paintings

Reference

babc7c76

Edition of large size: 3 + 1 Artist Proof
Edition of medium size: 5 + 2 Artist Proof
Edition of small size: 7 + 2 Artist Proof

Signature: back
Print: Archival Pigment Print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta
Dibond mount
ArtGlas AR70, 2 mm
Frame in grey (RAL 7047)

 

 

Artist's Statement:

"For all mankind"

I dream about space, about planets and universes. It is always about the future, about romance and excitement for me. Yet, at the same time, I am also rooted in the here and now and think about my home - planet Earth. What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with the human beings on this Earth? There is so much suffering everywhere that people do not want to be where they are, they believe that there must be a better world somewhere. What difference can a single citizen of the earth make? One singular, microscopic human being cannot solve anything.

But our mind is its own universe, different for every single one of us. And in this universe, we can create our own reality, our own phantoms, which become the reasons for our decisions, for our actions, and ultimately for our historical facts. Now, in yet another difficult moment in our history, I dare to imagine that each of us can find comfort in our own imaginary space full of planets, stars and even galaxies that we ourselves have created. After all, we were born to live in space, and indeed, we do.

I walk around my house collecting all kinds of things that have nothing to do with each other: simple materials, paper, stones, even flour. I find a little corner by the window and build a strange, imaginary and alien landscape there in this nook. Little by little it becomes real. I arrange one of my chosen planets. I will place myself on that one. Another one is placed in my arms. I will endow it with the essence. As if there are two equivalent cosmic bodies: something outside our atmosphere that is powerful and influential, ruling tides and people and our personal one - our own totem.

I try to overcome my fears by focusing on timelessness and at the same time on the moment in its impermanence. We often miss out on being in the moment because we are so busy living our lives. But being in the moment is perfect for marveling at life. And being here reminds me that I can stop time at any time; that any of us can if we want to. It may be hard, but it is so simple."

1974 Samara, Russian Federation

SHORT BIO

 

Early on Katerina Belkina (*1974) knew about her exceptional talent to see the world through different eyes. Born in Samara in the southeast of European Russia, she was brought up in an creative atmosphere by her mother, a visual artist. Her education at the Art Academy and the School for Photography of Michael Musorin in Samara gave her the tools to visualize her ideas. Exhibitions of her sublime, mystic self-portraits ensued in Moscow and Paris. Katerina Belkina was nominated for the prestigious Kandinsky Prize (comparable to the British Turner Prize) in Moscow in 2007. She won the International Lucas Cranach Award 2015 and the prestigious Hasselblad Masters Prize in 2016. Currently she lives and works in Werder (Havel).

 

 

ARTIST STATEMENT

 

It has always been fascinating for her to explore the psychology of people’s relationships with each other and with the outside world, to give shape to human emotions. To take joy, despondency, indifference, rapture and jealousy to pieces. Feelings are abstract, therefore it is so interesting to look for and find the form of their visualization.

 

Her face and body are the main instruments she uses to incarnate the images she wants. Standing in front of the camera as a model, she follows the age-old theatrical practice of playing roles. It gives impetus to the development of her own manner of narration. A part of her work, shooting is akin to a theatrical performance, where an urge to tell the viewer about emotions and feelings manifests itself through the characters in dialogues with the audience.

 

A passion for classical art and interest in everything new – technology, discoveries, experiments – led her to the type of mixed media, with which she works. From painting, she takes colors and create air as an element of space. Reality and character she takes from photography. Her style originates from a long artistic tradition – collage. That is how her characters and spaces come together. At the next stage, she chooses a brush of a graphics program. This is a subtle and accurate tool to create a light, weightless atmosphere similar to that of a dream. In her creative work, she is not searching for the subjects of thought. They spring from everyday life and observations of the people around. Choosing a motif for her exploration, she offers the audience a female view on things, which concern her. Undoubtedly, this view is based on feminist principles. Yet, the matter is not in confrontation, but in balance and harmony, where a woman is not an object, but foremost – energy.


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