Alena Romanova: "Art Is an Object. Not a Screen, nor a Window"
Moscow-based artist Alena Romanova speaks about her recent solo show “The Observers” at Totibadze Gallery (Moscow Vinzavod) and explains how she came to work across media and genres, in what way writing intertwines with her artistic practice and why “the artist should be like a hollow bamboo”.
“In Romanova's projects, life has many layers. This sensation is achieved through the use of a variety of materials, ranging from enamel and metal to the artist's favourite cardboard, whose ephemerality, in her own words, conveys ‘the truth of life’.”
From the press release for “The Observers” exhibition at Totibadze Gallery, written by Ekaterina Gershenzon, June 2024.
“Cardboard objects are balancing between painting, relief, theatre props, book layouts and even sculpture. However, genetically they go back to the traditional ‘picture in a frame’, fragmenting a certain slice of reality.”
Galina Yelshevskaya, art historian and critic
From the press release for “The Observers” exhibition at Totibadze Gallery, written by Ekaterina Gershenzon, June 2024.
“Cardboard objects are balancing between painting, relief, theatre props, book layouts and even sculpture. However, genetically they go back to the traditional ‘picture in a frame’, fragmenting a certain slice of reality.”
Galina Yelshevskaya, art historian and critic
“A cardboard box offers not only a surface for painting, but also the possibility of working simultaneously with real and depicted volumes, a field for the interaction between the space of painting and the space of life.”
“For the artist who is fascinated by plasticity but has exhausted all the illusions associated with the depiction of volume on a/the plane, the possibilities of this material are unlimited.”
Olga Yablonskaya, art historian and critic
“For the artist who is fascinated by plasticity but has exhausted all the illusions associated with the depiction of volume on a/the plane, the possibilities of this material are unlimited.”
Olga Yablonskaya, art historian and critic
“Metal net silhouettes by Alyona Romanova personify bodily experience as if they store the imprints of bodies or rather form such imprints.”
“It seems as if the artist is removing a thin film, the body as a surface, literally.”
Elena Petrovskaya, philosopher, senior researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of the RAS From the article “Save Our Souls”
“It seems as if the artist is removing a thin film, the body as a surface, literally.”
Elena Petrovskaya, philosopher, senior researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of the RAS From the article “Save Our Souls”
The title of this book is not intended to shock the potential reader, neither does it contain any ironic or sarcastic connotations. "Fools eat pies" is simply an inscription on one of Mikhail Roginsky's works, and in his interpretation, the “fools” were the very “poor in Spirit” who are known to be “blessed”. Roginsky understood everything in his own peculiar way; he was an artist unlike anyone else — a great artist of the 20th century, the fact recognised by many. A collection of memories of Roginsky’s friends and colleagues provide a unique opportunity to assess and appreciate in full his singular (multifaceted) personality.
Published by the “New Literary Review “(NLO) 2009, compiled by Alyona Romanova.
Published by the “New Literary Review “(NLO) 2009, compiled by Alyona Romanova.
