28 january 2022, Flor Linckens
Two solo exhibitions at Cokkie Snoei: Julia Kiryanova & C. A. Wertheim
Cokkie Snoei in Rotterdam is showing two consecutive solos until 12 February: an exhibition with surreal and metaphorical tapestries by Julia Kiryanova and a series of mysterious and humorous paintings and drawings by C. A. Wertheim.
Julia Kiryanova, Celebration, 2021, Cokkie Snoei
'Sunken with the crown' by Julia Kiryanova
Julia Kiryanova: “The stories depicted in my paintings and tapestries use a surreal, metaphorical visual language and explore ideas of identity, gender, comfort, the dichotomy of life and the human state of equal coexistence as psychologically fragile beings. My work is full of symbols, hidden meanings and rituals — most of the time supported by vibrant pink and turquoise.”
Julia Kiryanova was born in Kazakhstan and grew up in the Russian city of Bashkortostan. There, she attended various art courses at a young age, but she experienced little freedom — in what she calls “an unhealthy social climate” — and the education was quite focused on traditional art forms. She decides to travel across Europe with a friend and ends up in the Netherlands, where she studies at the Royal Academy of Art and the Gerrit Rietveld Academy. Thanks to a contribution from the Mondriaan Fund, she was able to explore a new discipline: wall tapestries. The material fascinates her because the end result is soft and feminine, but at the same time, the production process requires physically demanding work. In making these tapestries, Kiryanova effectively explores a certain part of her identity, because in Slavic countries, they are traditionally used on the wall for thermal insulation. When you translate this safe, warm and isolated space into a metaphor, the comparison with a womb seems logic. Kiryanova's colourful, imaginative and contrasting wall hangings completely command the viewer's attention. For her works, the artist is inspired by spirituality, mythology, symbolism, identity, gender, conflict, vulnerability, sexuality and our subconscious.
C. A. Wertheim, Playground, 2021, Cokkie Snoei
'I'm not here for a while' by C. A. Wertheim
The Dutch artist C. A. Wertheim is known for her self-portraits. While these depictions were rarely very realistic — you probably wouldn't recognise her on the street, based solely on her works — her most recent self-portraits offer even more mystery. Wertheim made the shown drawings and paintings at home, during alternating periods of lockdown. This results in works that depict the isolation, vulnerability and alienation that many of us have experienced in recent times. But there is also something playful and funny about the works, for instance the painting in which the artist hides under the coffee table, only to be immediately found by her cat. That wish to be invisible for a while is also apparent in the painting in which she holds a colossal plant that does not seem to cover her head, but nevertheless renders her head invisible. In another work, you only see her feet peeping out from under a bare duvet. Like Kiryanova, Wertheim studied at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and then followed a course at the Ateliers 63 in (at that point) Haarlem.
