By Touch

Katya Emelyanova

March 22 — April 21, 2024
Gallery "Triumph"

By combining a variety of natural and artificial materials, Katya Emelyanova demonstrates a masterful command of color, texture, and form, which function as elements of a semiotic exploration.

Triumph Gallery presents the solo exhibition "By Touch" by multimedia artist, sculptor, and photographer Katya Emelyanova. Her work resonates with the plastic and existential explorations of early 20th-century modernists. By combining a variety of natural and artificial materials, Katya Emelyanova demonstrates a masterful command of color, texture, and form, which function as elements of a semiotic exploration. The exhibition includes both recent works and earlier pieces from the Unlocked and Oliver People series.

In the series "By Touch" (2023), the artist reflects on the African continent—a place whose image is largely shaped by literature, visual art, and media. Katya Emelyanova presents her vision of Africa, intertwining reality and mythology and materializing it in sculptural forms. "By Touch" is a collection of totemic images inspired by the elements of nature—material artifacts of a kind of magical consciousness. Sculptures of spirits, created in mixed media from clay, wood, and metal, embody servants of an imagined cult of the earth, while large oxidized metal sheets adorned with colored beads recall the sacred significance of ornaments and decoration in the cultural traditions of various peoples.

The exhibition also features lightboxes from the Unlocked series. These works are inspired by the experiments of one of the pioneers of video art, Nam June Paik, who transformed realistic television images into abstractions. In this exploration of the philosophy of the creative process, Katya Emelyanova draws both on the Aristotelian interplay between the possible and the actual, and on contemporary theories of life as a flow of individual and collective impressions. What drives a person in the process of generating ideas? To what extent are our desires shaped by external factors?

Abstract spherical forms symbolize the creative flow—the emergence and development of ideas that gradually materialize, entering into dialogue with the surrounding reality. Filling the space with azure light, the works immerse the viewer in a metaphysical world of emotions and subtle sensory perceptions. The lightbox screens are made from an unusual material—mesh—which visually enhances the sense of permeability between interior and exterior, image and environment. Ceramic sculptures from the Oliver People series refer to deep layers of human nature, whose complexity is reflected in the modular construction of the figures, where each layer has its own shape and color, symbolizing a particular aspect of human essence.

Катя Емельянова
У Мартина есть мечта
2023
Керамика, глазурь, металл
35 х 120 cm

Abstract spherical forms symbolize the creative flow—the emergence and development of ideas that gradually materialize, entering into dialogue with the surrounding reality. Filling the space with azure light, the works immerse the viewer in a metaphysical world of emotions and subtle sensory perceptions. The lightbox screens are made from an unusual material—mesh—which visually enhances the sense of permeability between interior and exterior, image and environment. Ceramic sculptures from the Oliver People series refer to deep layers of human nature, whose complexity is reflected in the modular construction of the figures, where each layer has its own shape and color, symbolizing a particular aspect of human essence.

Katya Emelyanova (b. 1984) is a multimedia artist, photographer, and sculptor. She lives and works in Moscow. After receiving a BA in Art History from the Russian State University for the Humanities (2006), she studied and worked in the studio of Yuri Cooper in Paris (2008). In 2019, she completed a long-term residency at Central Saint Martins University London. Emelyanova has participated in numerous group exhibitions, including the 4th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (2012) and an exhibition at Saatchi Gallery in London (2023). Her solo exhibitions have been held at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art and the Multimedia Art Museum.

Curators: Alisa Prokhorova, Artur Knyazev.

Катя Емельянова
У Мартина есть мечта
2023
Керамика, глазурь, металл
35 х 120 cm

Katya Emelyanova (b. 1984) is a multimedia artist, photographer, and sculptor. She lives and works in Moscow. After receiving a BA in Art History from the Russian State University for the Humanities (2006), she studied and worked in the studio of Yuri Cooper in Paris (2008). In 2019, she completed a long-term residency at Central Saint Martins University London. Emelyanova has participated in numerous group exhibitions, including the 4th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (2012) and an exhibition at Saatchi Gallery in London (2023). Her solo exhibitions have been held at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art and the Multimedia Art Museum.

Curators: Alisa Prokhorova, Artur Knyazev.