OFLUXO

In their artistic practice, the three artists Katya Quel Elizarova, Sevina Tzanou and Sonja Yakovleva use techniques such as paper cut, floristry and textile design, which some representatives of the art world still often unjustly reduce to female diligence or a domestic craft because of their decorative beauty. Defamations such as “folk art” or “women’s art” are also applied to these art forms to this day in some eyes, instead of exploring the critical approach to the content of the works themselves. The evaluation of an artistic work is then reduced exclusively to the technique, the content becomes a secondary matter. By examining the aesthetic gap between beauty and ugliness in terms of content, the works on display in this exhibition deliberately convey the contradictions in the evaluation of works of art. The artists deliberately play with the perception of normative ideals of beauty and blur the boundaries between the value categories.

The aesthetic tension between the beautiful and the ugly has been addressed by philosophers, authors and art critics over the centuries in order to establish definitions for these terms. The ugly was usually understood as a contrast to the beautiful, as a disharmony or something that violates the ideals of, for example, proportion, symmetry and colouring. Nowadays, in turn, forms of expression and concepts originally perceived as ugly are sometimes adopted for their own definitions of the beautiful in order to deliberately expand and extend the classical interpretations. At the same time, current ideals of beauty in a consumer-oriented world are subject to dynamics that co-determine not only the aesthetic understanding but also the durability of these categories. The availability as well as the interchangeability of highly stylised, digitally post-processed and often sexually charged images that circulate in high frequency on the internet erase the categories of the aesthetic.

The artist Katya Quel Elizarova transforms the aesthetics of the digital into the analogue and at the same time takes up the ephemeral nature of consumer society. Elizarova develops mixed media spatial installations and sculptures that redefine found and appropriated objects through their own artistic expression. One trait of her practice comes from graffiti, which is reflected in expansive forms and gestures. In doing so, she combines elements of bad taste with the symbolism of fantastic worlds. Her artworks move on the border of kitsch and thus convey a certain irony towards conventional art forms.

Sevina Tzanou deals with the concept of femininity as a socially shaped, performative model of gender. Her oil paintings play with the grotesque representation of human bodies as well as with the exaggeration of female attributes. Through the deliberate exhibition and confirmation of clichés such as extremely long fingernails, high heels and plunging necklines, the viewer:s are seduced into recognising women. Through a lush application of colour, the scenes appear affected and whimsical. Tzanou thus frees herself from socially influenced complexes and recaptures the theatricality in the expression of femininity.

Sonja Yakovleva’s works break with the European tradition of depicting the nakedness of human bodies. In doing so, Yakovleva questions the typical perception of eroticism and gender roles. The silhouettes show unabashed poses of bodies in interaction as well as in self-representation, freely expressing their sexuality and not shying away from emphasising their physical attractiveness. This inverts the perspectives. Yakovleva humorously uses motifs from the world of social media and pornography.