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until 24.05. | #4625ARTatBerlin | Galerie feinart berlin shows from 10. April 2025 the exhibition DOOMSCROLLING by the artist Maria Naidyonova.
Maria Naidyonova is a master of the large format with a sensitivity for the line and its inherent emotional power. Her works on canvas are more drawing than painting: sometimes tactile and exploratory, sometimes powerful and expansive, she uses charcoal, pencil and glazed brushstrokes to read the emotional space of the figures depicted. After two years of concentrated work in the studio, the artist is presenting her new works to the public for the first time.
Maria Naidyonova, The Fight, 2023, mixed media on canvas, 150 x 210 cm, © M. Naidyonova
Naidyonova is interested in capturing those moments in which the hidden meanings of everyday life shine through. Series titles such as „Friends & Lovers“ or „Berliners“ indicate how closely her art is linked to the immediate social and urban environment of Berlin, the city in which the Kiev born artist has lived and worked since 2014. As in other major cities, several million life paths, crises and constant transformations condense every day in Berlin. Every day can be a new fall or a new opportunity. This pulsating field of tension forms the background of experience from which her pictures emancipate themselves.
Maria Naidyonova, Doomscrolling, 2023, mixed media on canvas, 180 x 160cm ©M. Naidyonova
The painting „Doomscrolling“, which gives the exhibition its title, shows a voluminous seated female nude on a format of 180 by 160 centimetres, her sad pouting face propped up on one arm and reflected in the display of her mobile phone. The epitome of a contemporary Narcissa? Established in psychology and communication science, „doomscrolling“ refers to the excessive consumption of negative news via digital media. The term has become popular since the COVID pandemic and the increasing global political uncertainties since 2020 — „doom“ meaning fate, misfortune, perdition. The indiscriminate and limitless consumption of unreliable information on social networks can become an addiction and, coupled with the urge for self-affirmation, a selfreinforcing narcissistic cycle.
Maria Naidyonova, Lovers, 2024, mixed media on canvas, 200 x 150 cm, ©M. Naidyonova
Female nudes make up the majority of the pictures. Naidyonova explains the importance of working in front of a real model with the need to penetrate the individuality of each person in the artistic process and to be able to capture something inner. For this reason, she does not speak of „models“ but of her „muses“. Looking at them, she examines where and how the body reveals something that touches and tells something about the person. Intimacy and dialogue can arise in just one gesture, one look, one movement.
Maria Naidyonova, The Living Room, 2023, mixed media on canvas, 120 x 150cm ©M. Naidyonova
InLiving in a time of increasingly unreflected media dependency, especially among younger people, is a major concern for Naidyonova. Interestingly, however, her artistic results are not lurid, provocative or chaotically colourful but, on the contrary, are associated with a classical aesthetic. The artist, who has also had some success with animated films in recent years, emphasises her appreciation of traditional techniques as a starting point for further development and new approaches. As Leo Kuelbs aptly sees it, she is „an example of the past and future existing together in the now.“ Her paintings move between dreamy fantasy („Midday Dream“ 2023), enthusiasm for the erotic dramaturgy of the line („Lovers“ 2024) and quiet humour („Picnic on the Lake“ 2024). „Classical yet contemporary, like Berlin itself, Naidyonova’s work is deeply rooted in art history, yet pulsates with a strong current of the present, offering glimpses of what lies ahead.“ (cited ibid.)
Maria Naidyonova, The Midday Dream, 2023, mixed media on canvas, 140 x 160cm ©M. Naidyonova
About the artist
Artistic education
Master’s Degree in Painting, Berlin-Weissensee School of Art | Specialist of Painting, National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture Kiev | Bachelor of Arts, National University of Ukraine, Kiev Polytechnic Institute | Master of International Economy, Kiev National University of Economics
Awards
2023 Award winner at Chania Film Festival Greece | 2022 Neustart Kultur | 2020 Award winner Festival of Animation Berlin | 2019 Brandenburg Art Prize, 2nd place
Exhibitions (selection)
2024 [12 Rooms] Kewenig Gallery Berlin | 2024 5. Weissenseer Kabinett, BrotfabrikGALERIE | 2023 Galleri Heike Arndt Berlin | 2022 Kunstbehandlung Galerie München | 2021 Kunsthaus Am Tacheles Berlin | 2020 Villa Blunk Wriezen; Kunst Supermarket DNA Gallery Berlin | 2020 STUDIO WEISSENSEE Berlin (solo); Digital Fairy Tales: Dark Nights & Black Cats, video art show Manhattan Bridge New York | 2019 Artgeschoss Galerie Berlin (solo); 2019 Contemporary Art Ruhr, Leo Kuelbs Collection Essen | 2018 Fata Morgana Gallery Berlin (solo); 2018 Museum Kesselhaus Herzberge Berlin; Werkbund Galerie Berlin | 2017 Meat Locker Gallery, Hudson, New York (solo); museum FLUXUS+ Potsdam | 2016 Gallery Neu West Berlin | 2015 Galerie Kunstwerk Winkler Berlin (solo); 2015 Galerie Taube Berlin
Opening: Thursday 10. April 2025 6 – 9 pm | 7 pm official welcome
Exhibition date: Thursday 10. April until Saturday 24. May 2025
Ending: Saturday 24. May 2025, 6 until 9 pm
To the Galery
Title image caption: Maria Naidyonova, Picnic on the Lake, 2024, mixed media on canvas, 120 x 140cm ©M. Naidyonova
Exhibition Maria Naidyonova – Galerie feinart berlin | Zeitgenössische Kunst Berlin – Contemporary Art – Ausstellungen Berlin Galerien | ART at Berlin
