Traces of Nature
May 17 – June 22, 2024
Oksana Sokolova
Bio
Exhibitions
Collections
Bio
Oksana Sokolova, a trans-disciplinary artist, integrates her architectural and fine art education into her work, employing various media like photography, installation, and painting to delve into societal challenges, historical shifts, and individual actions. Her projects seamlessly meld social critique with conformity and inner conflict.
In her primary domain of exploration, Oksana delves into architecture as a conduit for transcending history and the narratives it carries, while also exploring the transformative power of time on physical structures. She meticulously studies the enduring “Skins” of ancient buildings, extracting and synthesizing the stories they hold, transforming them into intricately crafted works of art.
Influenced by the sense of stifled freedom, Sokolova has initiated a fresh artistic endeavor centered on themes of liberty, illumination, and the innate connection with nature, surpassing the scope of all her previous artistic pursuits.
Sokolova graduated in Architecture in Paris, FR, and studied Fine Art in Nice, FR, where she currently lives and works.
Exhibitions
| 2024 | Traces of Nature, EXOgallery, Stuttgart, DUO with Johanna Riplinger |
| 2023 | Dialogues au coeur du vivant, Co-working Center Satellites, Nice, FR, DUO with Albane Noor Introspection, EXOgallery, Stuttgart, DE Skins, one-day show, Museum of Fine Arts, Nice, FR, SOLO Secret language, City Hall Gallery, Gordes, FR, SOLO Skins, permanent exhibition, Hotel Carlton, Cannes, FR, SOLO |
| 2022 | Kaléidoscope, Gallery Rabelais, Nice, FR The diffuse memories, Gallery Rabelais, Nice, FR |
| 2014 | From sketch to project, City Hall, Menton, FR |
Collections
- Hotel Carlton, Cannes, FR
Snails
Project Statement
Sokolova started the Snail research project in Provence, France as she spotted a group of white snails. The creatures raised her awareness as they seemed very aesthetic in a way they were glued on one another on a rock. As she tried to take a photography of her neatly arranged white shells, the snails started to move destroying her design.
This moment brought her to an idea to put a structure together and organise a system that in turn could make the snails work for her.
The allegory to George Orwell ‘Animal Farm’ seems nearly obvious. The snails, representing humans, put in a system that would be managed by an authority, the artist, herself.
The project brought to life multiple artworks from photography, gesso paintings, installation and objects with little snail sculptures.
The “Snails” project recounts the experience of a person who holds power. Are people’s lives of equal value to those who hold power and those who are subject to it? Are lives of power holders and their subjects rated equally? The question of freedom is at the heart of this project. Any freedom can be restricted if a third party seeks to do so. For my part, I wanted to explore this subject from the point of view of the “manipulator”, or “superior authority” as I call it.
Artworks
Oksana Sokolova - don't get out of your box
2023, Triptych, acrylic on wooden panels, 3D plaster snails, dammar resin, each 40 x 30 cm
Don't get out of your box
Installation view at EXOgallery "Traces of Nature" 2024
Oksana Sokolova - Stay inside
2023,
Pigment and Fine Art Print on Canson Paper,
Edition of 8 + 2 AP
Oksana Sokolova - Do not cross
2023,
Pigment and Fine Art Print on Canson Paper,
Edition of 8 + 2 Aps
Oksana Sokolova - In the footsteps of Rousillion
2023,
Tryptique, Fresco on wood panels with snail traces,
each 110 x 50 cm
Oksana Sokolova - Breath
2022, gesso and pigment on wood, 90 x 120 cm
Oksana Sokolova - Skins
2022, gesso and pigment on wood, 70 x 90 cm
Exhibitions
Selection of Shows at EXOgallery
Introspection | All-Women Group Show
June 15 – July 27, 2023
XmART | Xmas Group Exhibition
December 1 – 17, 2022
Related
News, Publications, Press
Studio Visit at Oksana Sokolova
05/05/2024