I am ready for a long road flight for work with a week- or months-long projects.
Present unfinished
The inner impulse that defines Yulia Klopova’s artistic language and approach to formulating her artistic expression is the idea of play. By embracing this idea, the artist moves according to the rules she establishes, within the boundaries she creates. The risk and excitement inherent in the player generate the necessary energy and motivate the search for ingenious solutions, determining the development of the game, which is sometimes not devoid of cheating.
The artist’s own skill, experience, and success can be questioned and even denied if the intrigue of a new concept demands it.
The artist allows herself to detach herself from both the transience of life and the imperishability of art. Nevertheless, despite all the apparent frivolity, the process of play becomes a means of understanding the inner and outer worlds and points the way to accepting and coming to terms with the "seriousness" of reality. Without denying harmony, Yulia Klopova allows the burden of traditional education and outdated craftsmanship to coexist within a single creative space, allied with a carefree thirst for freedom and an intoxicatingly destructive craving for novelty.
Artistic amusement, irony, and self-irony become fertile ground, nourishing subsequent reflection, the search for meaning and solutions, experimentation—in short, everything that constitutes the essence of the work of an active creative person.
The artist’s own skill, experience, and success can be questioned and even denied if the intrigue of a new concept demands it.
The artist allows herself to detach herself from both the transience of life and the imperishability of art. Nevertheless, despite all the apparent frivolity, the process of play becomes a means of understanding the inner and outer worlds and points the way to accepting and coming to terms with the "seriousness" of reality. Without denying harmony, Yulia Klopova allows the burden of traditional education and outdated craftsmanship to coexist within a single creative space, allied with a carefree thirst for freedom and an intoxicatingly destructive craving for novelty.
Artistic amusement, irony, and self-irony become fertile ground, nourishing subsequent reflection, the search for meaning and solutions, experimentation—in short, everything that constitutes the essence of the work of an active creative person.
Yulia Klopova’s art speaks the language of material. A persistent creativity constantly pushes the artist to move from conceptualization to execution. Whether by conscious decision, circumstance, or even fateful chance, by choosing one material over another—ceramics, textiles, glass—Klopova nurtures and nourishes it, "educates" and "educates." Thus, the creator and their creation share a common system of symbols, signs, and gestures—they are fully understandable to each other and only partially to others.
Reflecting deeply personal life experiences, Yulia Klopova’s designs often acquire a universal, universal character, touching on fundamental emotions and feelings. The thirst and torment of relationships in the "Attachments" project; an extremely exaggerated state of anticipation, lasting an eternity, in the "Isabelline" series of objects. Fears, confusion, and vague premonitions roll over us like a heavy wave or fussily seek refuge, whispering incantations. Each sculpted "character" is endowed with a name, character, and emotion, yet is completely free of anthropomorphism.
"Gretta" and "Fima" are humble and reclusive;
"Laura" and "Inga" are fearful and tired.
The artist arranges the figures, initiating a game, sometimes intricate and cunning, even dangerous, sometimes ironic and sly. There are heroes, victims, rogues, and lucky ones. The artist’s imagination creates a variety of characters: some are dormant, dense, and captivating; others are heavy, distrustful, and sedentary; still others are restless, nosy, and mocking.
Reflecting deeply personal life experiences, Yulia Klopova’s designs often acquire a universal, universal character, touching on fundamental emotions and feelings. The thirst and torment of relationships in the "Attachments" project; an extremely exaggerated state of anticipation, lasting an eternity, in the "Isabelline" series of objects. Fears, confusion, and vague premonitions roll over us like a heavy wave or fussily seek refuge, whispering incantations. Each sculpted "character" is endowed with a name, character, and emotion, yet is completely free of anthropomorphism.
"Gretta" and "Fima" are humble and reclusive;
"Laura" and "Inga" are fearful and tired.
The artist arranges the figures, initiating a game, sometimes intricate and cunning, even dangerous, sometimes ironic and sly. There are heroes, victims, rogues, and lucky ones. The artist’s imagination creates a variety of characters: some are dormant, dense, and captivating; others are heavy, distrustful, and sedentary; still others are restless, nosy, and mocking.
It’s not just meanings and images that play out: wandering on the edge of visual and tactile sensations, Yulia Klopova creates complex relationships of textures, forms, and surfaces. They range from a harmonious system of interweaving and structure to destructiveness, a jumbled mess, ruptures, and cracks. Repeated elements, loops, and knots form rhythmic patterns that break and reemerge, like patterns of human relationships. The abundance of detail, the collage of regular forms, the geometry of weaves, and the chaos of torn threads in "Dark Portal" or "Fima the Recluse" create a sense of incoherent mumbling, hum, and buzz.
The "whiskers" rustle and move constantly, probing the space, the components disintegrating like a mosaic into a multitude of independent forms and then reassembling into a unified whole. The cocoons of "Gretta" and "Laura," like spheres, contain both the illusion of security and the fear of captivity, while the surface pattern delivers a lengthy, dramatic narrative. In contrast, "Stealing Beauty," a harmonious array of ceramic and textile objects, jingles with gold and taps with its numerous, swift "feet." The very "bodies" of the sculptures reveal a mutual influence, or rather, a mutual understanding of the materials, a kind of hybridity of properties.
Yulia Klopova approaches the exhibition of her works like a stage director. She unfolds the dramaturgy within the context of the space, introducing new nuances of imagery that align with the character of the place. In one such project, "French Park," the sculptures "pretended" to be real green spaces, inviting the viewer to take a stroll (p…). The ceramic sculptures in "French Park" are constructed by reassembling architectural elements. Cornices, architraves, consoles, grotesques, eagle heads, lion paws, and wings are reshaped and transformed into natural forms—fruits and trees. They are then re-arranged according to symmetry, disciplined, and subordinated to the architectural order. Thus, a pun on the duality of phenomena is born.
The "whiskers" rustle and move constantly, probing the space, the components disintegrating like a mosaic into a multitude of independent forms and then reassembling into a unified whole. The cocoons of "Gretta" and "Laura," like spheres, contain both the illusion of security and the fear of captivity, while the surface pattern delivers a lengthy, dramatic narrative. In contrast, "Stealing Beauty," a harmonious array of ceramic and textile objects, jingles with gold and taps with its numerous, swift "feet." The very "bodies" of the sculptures reveal a mutual influence, or rather, a mutual understanding of the materials, a kind of hybridity of properties.
Yulia Klopova approaches the exhibition of her works like a stage director. She unfolds the dramaturgy within the context of the space, introducing new nuances of imagery that align with the character of the place. In one such project, "French Park," the sculptures "pretended" to be real green spaces, inviting the viewer to take a stroll (p…). The ceramic sculptures in "French Park" are constructed by reassembling architectural elements. Cornices, architraves, consoles, grotesques, eagle heads, lion paws, and wings are reshaped and transformed into natural forms—fruits and trees. They are then re-arranged according to symmetry, disciplined, and subordinated to the architectural order. Thus, a pun on the duality of phenomena is born.
"Escaping Beauty" hovered in the space of M.K. Anikushin’s studio, though it was not destined to fly very high, held in place by the heavy anchor of "beauty" (p. 10).
At the "Scarlet Flower" festival, it, tired, heavy, and covered in misty dust, quietly fell asleep in front of a huge mirror (p. 10). By allowing a touch of mockery in a conversation about one of the "eternal themes," the artist seems to free himself, and perhaps the viewer, from the obligation to worship this "beauty" and renounce any attempt to catch up with it.
At the "Unbound Attachments" exhibition at the NeNeMu Museum, "Fima," "Gretta," and "Laura" were confined in a cramped space, embodying the inevitability of the attachment of siblings to one another. The sculptures were created by Yulia Klopova with the assistance of her mother, Lilia Pedak. The eternal contradictions of relationships are etched into the surface of the objects. Expectation, fear of loss, love, and dependence intertwine and merge, without regret.
At the "Scarlet Flower" festival, it, tired, heavy, and covered in misty dust, quietly fell asleep in front of a huge mirror (p. 10). By allowing a touch of mockery in a conversation about one of the "eternal themes," the artist seems to free himself, and perhaps the viewer, from the obligation to worship this "beauty" and renounce any attempt to catch up with it.
At the "Unbound Attachments" exhibition at the NeNeMu Museum, "Fima," "Gretta," and "Laura" were confined in a cramped space, embodying the inevitability of the attachment of siblings to one another. The sculptures were created by Yulia Klopova with the assistance of her mother, Lilia Pedak. The eternal contradictions of relationships are etched into the surface of the objects. Expectation, fear of loss, love, and dependence intertwine and merge, without regret.
Yulia Nikolaevna Klopova’s hand-crafted world is a beguiling labyrinth where the artist’s myth-making ideas, taking physical shape, take on a life of their own, develop, and begin to interpret themselves. Remaining in a deeply personal space, the artist playfully swaps meanings and roles, inventing new combinations.
Each established image is subject to distortion and transformation, but this fluidity prevents the devaluation of its essence. Casting aside the mask of mystery and know-it-all, Klopova tells her stories figuratively and accessibly, with humor and fantasy.
The viewer’s interaction with the works eliminates the painfulness of empathy or the obsession of moralizing. Yulia Klopova’s art exists, first and foremost, not as an attempt to resolve eternal questions, but as an opportunity to live and create within the context of their insoluble nature.
Innokenty Golts
Each established image is subject to distortion and transformation, but this fluidity prevents the devaluation of its essence. Casting aside the mask of mystery and know-it-all, Klopova tells her stories figuratively and accessibly, with humor and fantasy.
The viewer’s interaction with the works eliminates the painfulness of empathy or the obsession of moralizing. Yulia Klopova’s art exists, first and foremost, not as an attempt to resolve eternal questions, but as an opportunity to live and create within the context of their insoluble nature.
Innokenty Golts