0115 Sculpture

Natalia Popova (b.1988) lives and works at St. Paul, France and Moscow. Her works have been displayed on exhibitions and galleries in France, Switzerland and Russia since 2015. Popova creates large sized wall sculptures for private collections and public spaces, as a side project she also creates small sculptures and jewelry from recycled plastics. Her work in art was preceded by a background in interior design and architecture. Before art practice she has got MA in economics. Also, she has mastered in meditations and professional yoga teaching, that profoundly influence her creative work. The colorfulness of the eucalyptus bark, the tenderness of the moss and the coldness of the soil. The truth breathes through it. She is silent and invisible. It only breathes, and with its breath it lifts the sap up the trunks of young trees and rubs the fallen leaves into dust. I crumple and twist the fabric to touch this breath. When it comes through the paintings, I can feel it in my feet, but I don't know how it happened. There are four components to each sculpture: material, light, space, and body. The material is both an opportunity and a limitation. The material is the basis that makes it possible for being to manifest itself. At the same time, the material restricts and hides existence, conceals it with its structure, just as the earth hides its juices. The light illuminates the material. The Light makes it manifest. The light is reflected only from the surface. The surface is an invitation that leads to the depths. The space is the place where the sculpture is located. But sculpture is also the place where the space is located. A thing and a space need each other. The body is place where all the paradoxes meet and resolve. The body is something that experiences "here" in this space, what captures " now " in this light. The sculptures are not valuable in themselves. Sculptures are the cradle in which the being of the material grows. What does it mean for paint to be itself? Bloom in the sun or electric lights. What does it mean for plastic to be itself? Transform, becoming flexible or rigid. What does it mean for a stone to be itself? Lie heavy on the ground and push the water out from under. What does it mean for a painting to be itself? To grow into the space where it is located, and to make itself felt. In the geological depths, the remains of organisms are transformed into oil for millions of years.