Abstract Expressive
by Maria Gorbunova
I prefer a painting as medium, as a guide, using different kinds of materials and mixed media. I studied at an architectural university where we worked with collages and studied the principles of supremacists, constructivism, etc. with access to stencil compositions, cut and mixed Vasarelli grids. I was influenced by immersion into the world of supremacism, and in general the study of the history and theory of design and architecture, however, in my art I only use such techniques to convey other meanings.
I mix Montana spray paint with acrylic and oil paints whilst also using graphite, sanguine and oil pastels. It is important for me to reflect the conflict of materials, as a combination of the traditional (past) with the bright present. I use dark primers - imprimatur, often umber, red- brown shades and on top I write using cerulean blue (this color is often present in my works) and carmine, cadmium yellow medium. These colors create tension in my work, sometimes a dramatic intensity. I like to use stencil techniques and combine more traditional techniques with modern techniques. I also work with various kinds of textiles, leather, nails, and putty.
I grew up in the city of Nadym - a very small city on the border of the Arctic Circle which was a completely isolated place. There was a huge amount of British rock music in my childhood and I loved looking at record covers, and music has greatly influenced my perception, freeing me from stereotypes. I continue to work with musicians and my works are present on the covers of music albums.
I can highlight themes that are important for me in my art such as the theme of “memory”, “sensory experience”, an attempt to overcome psychological trauma received in childhood due to my mothers schizophrenia. I have been recovering from this traumatic experience for many years which has influenced me greatly. I also connect this experience with the theme of femininity & lost childhood. The theme of the lost female nature, which needs to be restored, like a destroyed temple.
Symbols matter to me, my own sometimes archaic images. In order to transform the memory of revenge the sensory perception of these key moments from the past into iconic forms or “special space”. For me, a landscape in abstraction is the same feeling of a “place”, only devoid of a “narrative”, a descriptive character. Sometimes I take a very long time to select a color for a particular episode-place. My works are sometimes like "containers" of memory, only described with the help of tangible texture, color, shape and movement. It is also important for me to show the struggle with the material, with the materialism of color or surface.. to condense sensory experience. Earlier in 2003-2010 I created works that included human figures or destroyed faces. Recently, the anthropic principle has not attracted me and I try to avoid it.