Maria Kasyanenko's first solo exhibition
The exhibition introduces the viewer to the artistic legacy of St. Petersburg artist Maria Kasyanenko, who passed away in 2021. Among Maria's works are pieces of both fine and decorative and applied arts: from paintings, linocuts and mosaics to artist-made dolls and sculptures; from jewelry to knitted and felted purses and bags. But above all, Maria is remembered as a doll-maker and storyteller, the creator of whimsical and recognizable characters made of wood and papier-mâché.
Maria's creations have a recognizable style — not only in technique and distinctive personal touch, but also in mood and character. Many works are connected to one another in one way or another, as if forming a single untold story. At the same time, for reasons more biographical than artistic, the artist had no solo exhibition during her lifetime — and this exhibition should, in a sense, restore justice.
Two main themes in Maria's work are, on the one hand, isolation, inwardness, vulnerability, fragility and introversion, and on the other, a romantic — in the truest sense of the word — natural, almost organic, mutually complementary connectedness with others.
Centaurs
Buratino
Engraved stones
Papier-mâché figure
Painting 'Bull'
