Sasha Sokolova
SPLASH
16+
On July 9, ARTIS GALLERY will open the personal exhibition of Sasha Sokolova SPLASH. Sasha’s bright, sunny works embody fantasies-memories of a perfect summer: hot, rich, permeated with the enjoyment of life and freedom.
One of the translations of the word “splash” from English is “spray”, and the girls in the paintings of the artist let go of themselves, playing, living the present moment as joyfully and directly as possible. The swimming pool becomes the sacred space around which the plot and composition of Sasha's paintings are built.
The works of Sasha Sokolova evoke the viewer at first the blissful tranquility of the elite houses of Los Angeles from the 1960s-1970s, which was captured in his works by David Hockney, but Sasha turns to more personal experiences for the artist. She recalls her childhood, a small pool in a dacha outside Moscow, around which relatives, neighbors and even neighbors' cats gathered in the heat. The pool became a kind of place of power, a space of unity, naturalness and fun, sparkling like splashes in the sun.
The image of the pool and the state of joy from childhood are transmitted by the artist to the future, and in the center of the composition of each painting, viewers see harmonious, sophisticated modern girls. Sasha Sokolova deliberately hides from us their faces to emphasize unity with the elements, harmony and inner integrity of images that are not dependent on the viewer.
Another meaning of the word “splash” is “colorful spot”. Here we are talking about the artistic method, the relationship of the tradition of Soviet realism and the works of contemporary Russian artists. Sasha grew up in an artistic family, and from childhood her grandfather was her very strict teacher. Later, a classical art school was added to the base of the house. The technicality of Sasha's works and her peculiar devotion to the traditions of realism is especially noticeable in the construction of figures, the details of hands and the ratio of objects within the picture. But bold views, color combinations and rich hues are her personal experiment, referring to the bright aesthetics of pop art. The artist intentionally simplifies the multi-figured compositions of realists, complex textures to almost abstract color spots, erasing the boundaries between the human body and the surrounding space, trying to enhance the effect of naturalness and dissolution in the moment.
Sasha Sokolova was born in 1990 in a creative family. At the age of 9 she entered the S. Andriaka School of Watercolors in Moscow and was awarded a scholarship by the V. Spivakov Foundation and the Young Talents Foundation. Sasha also graduated with honors from art school, hot enamel technology courses, in 2015 - magistracy of the art faculty of VGIK. After the university, Sasha was selected to participate in the creation of the animated film “Van Gogh. With love, Vincent, directed by Dorot Kobel and Hugh Welshman, fully painted in oils, became the only Russian artist on the project.
The works of Sasha Sokolova were presented at solo exhibitions in the USA, France, Germany, Poland and Russia. Now her works are in private collections around the world, including Australia and Canada.
Currently, Sasha is working with the Dutch company for the production of goods for artists Royal Talens, lives and works in Moscow and Barcelona.
Open Studios
Free of Charge 
Starts at 10:00 