The trick of the spirit

Irina Greciuhina, Moldova

I Live and work in Moldova For many years I have been leading an architectural bureau, working closely with interiors, textures, colors and product design. Architectural background is giving me a lot of ideas and knowledge, that I am transforming into my artworks. I am perceiving a process of the art creation as my personal cult and intimate ritual which gives me a freedom of expression. In my artistic practice I am interested in recording and showing the diversity and ambiguity of human nature as well as the mystery of all aspects of human personality. The main theme of my art is a study of the archetypes of a woman. I am recreating female images from different sources around me, including everyday life, fashion magazines and even internet. I keep wondering how personality and world perception of a woman can be affected by the external factors such as giving birth to a child, building a family or even changing the gender roles. The choice of this subject is stipulated by a continuous self-study, as an artist and as a woman, thus perceiving it as the most interesting and the dearest topic to me. Depicting female figures in a particular manner, I am placing them in the most unusual settings coming from the depth of my subconsciousness. Surrealism and interpretation of dreams, became strong references to me, but I am expressing them in a post-modern way, mixing bright colors, catchy poses from the posters, decorative elements and patterns with the typical elements of pop art. Full of peculiar details, my artworks are inviting the viewer to wonder, who are these women on the canvas and what is their story. Using mostly acrylic paint and working on large-scale canvases, recently I’ve started to experiment with digital art, studying how the new technologies can affect my creative process, giving me new ideas and skills.