Screening of my animation "The Shadow of the Sun", as part of Digital Fairytales series "Dark Nights and Black Cats", curated by Leo Kuelbs Collection.
14th March, 3 pm.
Ostentor Cinema
Adolf-Schmetzer-Str. 5 93055 Regensburg, Germany
Cancelled due to Covid-19
Group show
Opening: Friday, 24th of January, 7 pm - 11.30 pm
Show 25th of January through 1st of March
Brotfabrik Galerie, Caligariplatz 1, 13086 Berlin
Video Show
December 11th at 7 p.m.
Torstraße 1, 10119 Berlin
Video Show
Curated by Sandra Ratkovic and Leo Kuelbs
As part of the Plovdiv 2019 - European Capital of Culture
August 1st, 2019 at 8pm
FLUCA - AUSTRIAN CULTURAL PAVILION
40 Otets Paisyi Str. 4000 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Video Show
July 21-27 (no show on July 24th)
10:30 pm
Elizabeth Street between Prince and Spring Streets,
Manhattan, New York, NY 10012
Saturday, 13 July - Friday, 19 July
open daily noon – 7 pm
special opening times on Friday, 19 July noon - 10pm
X LANE
Reichenberger Straße 154, 10999 Berlin
Annual Arts Exhibition at the Former Transformer Factory “Transformatorenwerk Oberschöneweide“ (Rathenau-Hallen)
June 12th through June 16th
XTRO Ateliers Berlin
Wilhelminenhofstr. 83,
12459 Berlin
Premiere of my new video "Pieces", created in cooperation with a wonderful Ukrainian composer Danil Denisov has happened on the April 4th in New Your City. This work is a part of the "Digital Fairy Tales: Vengeance is Mine” and will be shown in Berlin at the Mitte Media Festival after.
You can watch the full version on April 4th - April 30th 2019 at Media Center by IFP, 30 John St, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA
and
on Saturday, April 20th, 10 pm-12 am, at Fata Morgana Gallery, Torstraße 170, 10115, Berlin
Photo story below follows all steps of the animation in progres, starting from the first drafts and tests until the actual widescreen premiere.
Solo show at Artgeschoss Gallery
Opening: 30th March at 19.00
Duration: March 31st through May 12th 2019
Adress: Schustehrusstraße 17, 10585 Berlin
Screening of my new video presented by Directors Lounge at Contemporary Art Ruhr.
March 8th – 10th 2019,
Essen, Germany
Opening: 14th September at 19.00
Duration: September 14th through October 31st 2018
Adress: Herzbergstraße 79 (Haus 29)
10365 Berlin-Lichtenberg
Video Projection on Manhattan Bridge, New York City
September 6th, 2018
10pm
The Triangle at Pearl Street and Anchorage Place
25th August through 7th September 2018
Vernissage: 25th August at 18.00
WERKBUND GALERIE
Goethestraße 13, 10623 Berlin
Chased: You seem to have a very unique style of painting. How would you describe your style and your techniques?
M.N.: As Picasso once said “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” I have gone through an intensive way of self-improvement. Starting in Kiev, where I received fundamental technical knowledge and finishing with Berlin where I grew as an artist, gained artistic freedom. Each step of my development has influenced my style that will probably keep changing. As long as I live I will be looking for something new, experimenting, trying to find more strong and sharp ways of expression. I think that when you stop making discoveries you become creatively dead. Also, what I am doing is always the reflection of what I see and experience, of the world surrounding me. My style is the language I use to hold the dialogue with the world.
Chased: You also do animated videos of your works, which is an unusual thing to do. Why did you decide to mix these different genres, and what do you want to show with the videos? In which way do the videos expand or maybe even change your works?
M.N.: I had a chance to show work at Mitte Media Festival, so I thought it might be fun to try to do a video work. I love to draw, so I started to experiment with animating my sketches. It was fun to be doing something familiar using a new media. I like this idea of traditional technique in a contemporary setting. In this case, digital. I think that reflects a lot of my way of thinking and how I look back to the greats in art history and try to connect classics with the contemporary.
Chased: You mainly paint people. What makes it so fascinating for you?
M.N.: People inspire me. I like to watch them. They give me the energy I use to create. I wouldn’t be able to paint if I didn’t have people surrounding me all the time.
Chased: When did you move to Berlin and why? How would you describe the Berlin art scene from your perspective?
M.N.: I was willing to change my environment, was looking for new food for reflection, further ways of creative development. Like Paris was the world’s art center at the turn of 20th century, Berlin is one of the world’s cultural centers today. It attracts artists from every corner of the world. That makes it very particular, international, diverse and free.
Chased: In your last exhibition in Berlin, a painting of you caused a lot of attention and even protests. Can you tell us a bit more about this incident?
M.N.: The painting is called “The Game,” and has two semi-nude girls and their cat playing together in a kind of surrealist utopia landscape. I showed this piece at the final show of Weissensee Academy of Arts. There was an organized group of protesting people blocking the painting from the viewers and trying to burn it with their cigarettes. Their behaviour was shamelessly aggressive and I had to constantly turn to security for help. It went on for hours and was really exhausting.
One of the semi-nude figures in the painting is Asian, the other is White European. Some people got very angry about this. Viewers are welcome to experience works in their own way. But deciding that your personal perception is more important than everyone else’s and acting like that starts turning into censorship. I totally believe in equal rights for everyone and freedom of expression and could never imagine this incident could happen in such a multicultural metropolis as Berlin.
Chased: Your next exhibition is coming up soon at Fata Morgana Gallery in Berlin-Mitte. What will we see?
M.N.: The show at Fata Morgana is called “2018,” and will include my latest pieces and the most important ones. It will be the conclusion of this fruitful season and a nice reason to meet up before everyone goes on vacations. We are still working on the general display, but most likely it will include “The Game” mentioned above, the “Lovers” painting, successfully debuted at the NGORO NGORO II during the Gallery Weekend, as well as the “Untitled” silver work that has appeared in Munich, Berlin and New York.
Fata Morgana/CoGalleries,
Torstrasse 170, 10115 Berlin
Opening: July 26, 6–9 pm,
Exhibition: July 27, 28, 29, 4-9 pm,
Finnissage: July 31, 6-9 pm
Last Friday, as part of the Weissensee Kunsthochschule's Graduate show, "Defying Currents," artist Maria Naidyonova presented two works featuring duos of female semi/nudes. For several hours, protestors clad in black blocked viewers from encountering her piece, "The Game," while also keeping their burning cigarettes a few centimeters from the work. It was a threatening environment which caused confusion and a lot of stress for show attendees, the artist and her supporters.
No one has taken responsibility, but viewers wondered just what the protestors were against. Many thought it was because of the subject matter. In any case, an act of censorship was enacted that went on until after the lights were turned off and the show was being cleared for the night.
Curators of "Defying Currents," labeled the work(s) "problematic." All in all a strange day for arts in Berlin.
A painting by Maria Naidyonova
In her large-scale figurative work, “The Game,” Maria Naidyonova makes an offer to viewers which practically cannot be refused. Loaded with art historical and literary references, “The Game” starts off simply enough before spinning into almost infinite perspectives that reveal as much about the viewer as the painting itself.
It’s a beautiful day in a utopian setting. Two women play with each other happily while their kitten looks on. One white, one Asian, the two figures laugh and smile easily, tempting viewers with an apple offering entrance into “The Game.” Take a bite. Is it the end of Eden? Or is it the birth of knowledge? Both figures seem to know how you feel, but like Alice in Wonderland, it’s only after ingesting the magic that you experience yourself.
Notions of a post-racial, lesbian/gay utopia have been raised, while others have seen colonization of Asian women by Whites. Both perspectives may be valid, but is it the artist’s intent to lecture about a particular point of view? Or is the true intent to reveal what’s already latent in each individual viewer? Is it global or is it personal? Is that even the point?
In the current climate of “fake news” and polarized realities, “The Game” reminds us that yin and yang BOTH exist. Every perspective justifies its opposition. Thus, “The Game” supports each stance while denouncing intolerance and lack of empathy. Like every beautiful work throughout history, “The Game” is ultimately about balance and how you stand on your own in an ever-shifting world.
Leo Kuelbs
Group show with the works of Maria Naidyonova, Sandra Ratkovic, Daniela Imhoff, Anatoly Rudakov
March 16th-April 16th
Baaderstraße 34
80469 Munich
Germany
April 26th-April 29th
Studio Weissensee
Pistoriusstraße 100
13086 Berlin
Germany
“Zeitpunkt: Art from Observation” begins with artists working from what they see. No pure concept or abstraction, but inspiration drawn from a moment observed. Four different artists approach this notion through photography, drawing, painting and video. Capturing a second in one’s imagination, then growing it into a freestanding representation of life, a flower from a seed of everyday existence.
Leo Kuelbs Collection
DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Preview: Wednesday, February 28th, 6-9 p.m.
Open House with Tacos: Saturday, March 3rd, 2-10 pm with Champagne Toast at 6 p.m.
Final Look: Sunday, March 4th, 2-6 p.m.
