I CAN DISAPPEAR

This exhibition project serves as a comprehensive survey of Tanya Akhmetgalieva’s artistic output spanning the recent years. Commencing with the textile ‘paintings’ Flicker IV and Flicker V (2015–2016), which have become emblematic of her oeuvre, the presentation unfolds with a focus on video installations in four rooms and the staircase, tracing her recent years of creative exploration. Concurrently, the remaining spaces host her latest paintings and drawings (2019–2020). Embedded within these works are recurrent themes that consistently punctuate Akhmetgalieva’s creative discourse: illusions, multi-layered realities, duality of images, and evasive meanings.

In her own words, “In my works, a person seems to be living a life that is a rough draft, a sketch that has yet to develop a distinct form in future,” suggesting that, for her, the world itself remains an unfinished sketch. In this world berries are sprouting thorns, soft lips are harboring fangs, and semi-abstract flora giving rise to bird-headed blooms. From the canvases eyes of diverse shapes and sizes—seemingly endowed with their own vitality—observantly engage the viewer.

A dynamic metamorphosis constantly unfolds. An initially enchanting chamber, constructed from fragments of shattered dreams, swiftly transmutes into an animated Luna Park, where fantastical elements blend with phobias, culminating in a vertiginous neo-surreal concoction. The unstable reality fragments into intricate layers.

Flicker #4 & Flicker #5, from the series «Allergy to dust», 2014, 300 x 100 cm, cloth, acrylic threads, sewing

Spasms and cramps, 2018, 100 x 70 cm, watercolors on paper

Transparent forms & Labored breathing, 2018, 100 x 70 cm, watercolors on paper

Look at this way & Look from the other side, 2018, 100 x 70 cm, watercolors on paper

I am small sad robot, 2020, 180 x 180 cm, oil on canvas

Found object “Crystal Collection #2”, 2019, 13 x 10 cm, cardboard box, doll eyes, glitter

Botanical garden, 2020, 180 x 180 cm, oil on canvas

Fan of crystals, 2020, 180 x 180 cm, oil on canvas

The wrong sign, 2020, 69 x 37 cm & There is a bell in left hand, 2020, 120,5 x 120,5 cm, oil on canvas

“Hotel Provisorium 13” Series, 2020, 100 x 70 cm, watercolors on paper

“Hotel Provisorium 13” Series, 2020, 100 x 70 cm, watercolors on paper

(from left to right)

Crystals drama, 2020, 180 x 180 cm, oil on canvas

Another House, 2020, 120,5 x 120,5 cm, oil on canvas

Recognition at second “third attempt”, 2020, 100 x 100 cm, oil on canvas

Temporary Home, 2020, 120,5 x 120,5 cm, oil on canvas

“If you want I can disappear” Series #4, 2020, 60 x 80 cm, watercolors on paper

“If you want I can disappear” Series #7, 2020, 60 x 80 cm, watercolors on paper

“If you want I can disappear” Series #1, 2020, 60 x 80 cm, watercolors on paper

“Maybe She Would Laugh” Series #2, 2020, 31 x 41 cm, watercolors on paper