13.07.2018
Zorkaya Catherine
In her work Catherine creates a kind of universal artistic language. By bringing together fragments of seen and lived cultures she creates her unique rituals, her faith, her temple - as another attempt to understand and create the world around us.
Catherine Zorkaya was born in a family of hereditary diplomats. Her family's work trips not only introduced her to the traditions, beliefs and customs of different peoples, but also helped her to form her own worldview.
In her works Catherine creates a kind of universal artistic language. Piecing together fragments of seen and lived cultures she creates her unique rituals, her faith, her temple - as another attempt to understand and create the world around us.
Catherine seeks images in primitive art, shamanism, the art of African aborigines, paganism, folk folklore of all countries, primitivism, early iconography. Their unifying attempt to speak in uncomplicated language about extraordinarily deep and complex things, without being distracted by pompous details: about life, about faith, about death, about the process of being - became a point of convergence of different cultures and the basis of the artistic language of Zorkaya.
In her technique, Catherine uses fabric, embroidery, ceramics, and beads to create three-dimensional paintings and art objects whose subject matter is based on her travels.
One of the family's first long working trips was to the Middle East (Palestine, Israel). There Catherine first visited the Temple of the Holy Sepulchre, it became one of her most vivid memories - an atmosphere of total acceptance, calmness and steadfastness.
Nearby, a very different faith and the Wailing Wall, an equally vivid impression. It was at that point when she began to think about what faith is, and why everyone believes differently.
Then there was studying in the United States, a country where everything is mixed, all nations, all religions, creating a powerful symbiosis. A country where the material dominates the spiritual. In America, Catherine began to actively develop her artistic practice and transfer all that she had accumulated to paper and canvases, constantly experimenting with materials, colors and textures.
After returning to Russia, she enrolled at the Moscow Architectural Institute. Worked in architectural bureaus, led projects independently until she realized that her own creative ambitions went far beyond architecture and design. At the same time there was a long trip to West Africa (Mauritania, Senegal) and acquaintance with several religious communities, voodoo masters, African Christian and Muslim communities, each with its own artistic language, closely intertwined with different ancient rites and beliefs.
SELECTED GROUP AND SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
- 2022 - blazar young art fair, a-s-t-r-a gallery, Moscow
- 2022 - Collective self-fulfilling prophecy about our beautiful tomorrow, a-s-t-r-a gallery, Vinzavod, Moscow
- 2022 - solo show "And he answered her: where your treasure is, there your heart will be also", a-s-t-r-a gallery, CUBE MOSCOW, Moscow
