Ukrainian-Catalan exhibition "Dreamers" by Xavier Escala and Nina Murashkina.
On June 10, 2023, the exhibition "Dreamers", which presented the sculptures, paintings, and drawings of extraordinary artistic pair – Xavier Escala and Nina Murashkina, opened at Barcelona’s Gallery of Ukrainian contemporary art, Test Gallery.
The title of the exhibition refers to the artists themselves: people who dream, and they both do it together, day by day. The artists have to put limits to their dreams, within their means and capabilities, because reality is like this: it demands concreteness, a limited object. And the imagination is divine, magical, and unattainable. For artists, dreaming does not mean escaping reality, nor forgetting it in a playful, unproductive runaway. Imagination is not fantasy: imagination creates, and fantasy makes games, whims, and adventures, like shapes that appear in the clouds for a moment, and then are lost in endless metamorphosis.
«Step into the extraordinary realm of artistic enchantment created by the inseparable duo of Nina Murashkina and Xavier Escala. Their lives and their art are intricately intertwined, resulting in a harmonious fusion where the boundaries between reality and fantasy blur. Whether you engage in conversation with them or immerse yourself in their captivating artworks, you will be transported to a world of vibrant fantasies, sensual allure, and a unique interpretation of reality” – says curator of Test gallery Kateryna Pidhaina.
The project is implemented with the support of the Consulate General of Ukraine in Barcelona.
Wine partner Bolet Casa Modernista.
Photo by @valeriiabuchuk
About the artists:
Nina Murashkina was born in Donetsk, Ukraine. Nina finished Kharkiv Art Design Academy (Monumental Painting), Kyiv Art Academy (Stage Design and Film), and Art Academy of Jan Mateyko (Poland, Krakow) in 2012.
“The main topic of my research in art is the psychology of sexuality, and personal drama, raised in a cult. I‘m brave, bold, and fearless, I‘m erotic and see the world in an erotic context. I like to talk about what you prefer to save in a silent way. That’s about you dreamt of something but did not expect to be aware. About the delicious details from the Subconscious and the extreme limits allowed in social relations.
As for the style, it is a synthetic style of purely feminine perception of the World with a deep ground of classical art education, it is a parallel to the Ukrainian naive art and Kitsch, filled with citations from works of masterpieces of art history.
I create big format bright colors paintings, installations include ready-made objects, knitted items, embroidery, and drawings related to my own erotic stories and performances. Turning to the themes of Eroticism and Body, the experience of dreams, I immerse them in the theatrical environment. The artworks may appear at first glance playful and whimsical, but it ultimately encourage viewers to take a serious look at the complexity of the ideas on display. My plots are macabre and quite grotesque, full of irony and a chance to laugh or to cry. To love or to die.
But for sure, to believe in this Magic by the author’s erotic world”.
Xavier Escala was born in Sant Cugat Sesgarrigues, and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Santa Isabel de Hungría, where he completed his degree in sculpture. He continued his education at the Carrara Academy of Fine Arts and developed marble sculpture techniques at the Corsanini sculpture studio. Learned direct wood carving from the sculptor Aron Demetz.
In 2014 he began an artistic journey to carve sculptures in Russia, Switzerland, Belgium, Ukraine, Egypt and Turkey. He lives and works in Barcelona. Xavier Escala uses the representation of man, for two reasons: to be a universal and comprehensible form; and because man is the most worthy of the subjects of art, deep and complex (when he says man also means the woman and the spirit). He seeks expression through a known traditional language, which poses the same problem since ancient times, which is: to give life to the stone, through plastic values such as weight, composition and movement.