Sodium Glutamat

The artist observes advertisements in the urban environment and transforms simple snapshots with her signature method of light-collage into watercolor paintings. Symbolically, this process is supposed to free citizens from the visual noise that surrounds them, but the artist compares this practice to adding monosodium glutamate to a dish, which is supposed to make it tastier, but in fact is only addictive. Images stimulate desire. Behind the outer surface of the urban space visual images there is a layer of meaning that is symbols and signs. Visual reality should be seen as a cultural construct which is to be “read” and interpreted in the same way as a literary text; as a cultural "text" which reflects the history of the country, everything which was accumulated over the centuries in the same general appearance of the urban environment and contains "folk relics" themselves. The Soviet city space was always too rough, straight and colorless. Changes of the “Wild and Evil’ 90s” added colors, advertisement appeared in the streets, on the one hand that solved the utilitarian tasks of business self-presentation, either big or small, but on the other hand dominated as a decorative element of the urban environment. Intuitively, passing through oneself the information mess one wants to get rid of it, first of all. Unfortunately it is impossible. I tried to transform the visual trash which I face almost every day into the abstract images popping up in my head from time to time when I see that “trash” again. Prologue - https://vimeo.com/192254929/65dbf563e6 Backstage of the shooting process - https://vimeo.com/192255094/d6a431849a I take the ordinary, unremarkable pictures, literally everything that I see on a walk, then print them on transparency film, and experiment with different ways of blending, pictures showthrough and motion during a camera time exposure. I am fascinated by unpredictability of the result; it is very similar to the fortune-telling on Christmas Eve or creating abstractions on canvas while painting with closed eyes. Stylistically, the works can be divided into two cycles: the first one is the vitrage, the image created with photos displaying outdoor advertising which is shot close-up; the second one is a watercolor image created using photos of street space filled with billboards and banners. Printing of the works for exhibition or sale implies creation of different sizes - from the smallest 15 *21, to the largest 60*90cm, on watercolor paper. Printing editions can be viewed on my website.