Laudatio, Vernissage Stadtmuseum Döbeln 22.10.2010
Ausstellung: Natalia Simonenko, Malerei, Stadtmuseum Döbeln, 22.10.2010 – 6.1.2012 Laudatio gehalten von Frau Karin Weber, Galeristin und Mitglied des Vorstands des Neuen Sächsischen Kunstvereins e.V. Dresden, bei der Vernissage am 22.10.2010
Ladies and Gentlemen,It is a great pleasure for me that you are ready to be enchanted by the paintings of Natalia Simonenko, a paintress form St. Petersburg.When a point becomes movement and line, lateral and spherical energies emerge and harmonies, which take possession of the spectator, and when light comes into play, pitches of color and color tones occur, following a inner harmony, emerging into the ambience or just fall silent if the heart is not yet ready to resonate.Natalia Simonenko has the courage for the art of her own, distinct tone colors. Unimpressed by the fashions of the art market, she narrates of the beauty of the world, of the light that insouls beauty. She avows herself to her roots, to Schischkin and Repin, to a realism which is located near the atmospheric, light pervaded paintings of impressionism.It is difficult, or better to say, a rare gift, to express the inner concept in a compelling, well-tempered language, and in fact not by an approximation or an exaggeration, by an accomplished orchestration of art, comprehending everything what represents one’s own life.Time seems frozen in the light imbibing paintings of Natalia Simonenko. Snapshots of intensive observation-power turns into visionary, breathing compositions.Experienced, mystical and mythological events remain present. The under-conscious is activated and influences the deliberate flow of painting, with which she discovers flowers, finds the summer, wanders through cities, eavesdrops faces.The instinctive sureness with which the artist capitalizes from a solid artisanry of a visual person obsessed by details, allows the creation of works of fascinating coherence and sensuality. She succeeds doing a somersault landing on the feet of the significance, succeeds to let the sophisticated visual offer not appear as the idle nifty.
No matter on what intricate path of the microscopic and macroscopic reconnaissance of the inner and outer world she engages, the achievements are subtle lessons in fine arts, guidance for seeing, recognizing and associatingThe unsearchable evolves into the observable, in gently vibrating light-color spaces. The artist resists the all too prevailing view that an artist needs to be depleted and suffering, in order to achieve the brilliant. An artist also has a right to well-being and happiness. Circus she loves. Here are the facets from beauty to tragedy more vividly prevailing than in theater. She is fascinated by harlequin, such as Fellini or Picasso. Portraits in contours are for her more appealing, because more internalized. On the landscapes repeatedly yachts appear, sailing boats which advance for the artist to symbols of freedom and the countless unrealized possibilities in life. She was in Montenegro with its steep hilltops, in Dubrovnik and Bayreuth with its sweet clamor, in the cold city of Stockholm and in the golden Prague. Sunflowers are her favorite flowers, as a symbol of life par excellence. Anyway, flowers are declaration of love to the life.In art it depends on whether something is stimulated and inspired, to let it resonate within the observer. Natalia Simonenko is fully aware of that.She was born 1970 in Leningrad. Drawing and painting she discovered the world. It was obvious to her to become an artist. But her parents, two engineers, had different plans for her and wanted to spar her the hardship and had her to enroll at the educational faculty. Nevertheless, 1999 she graduated from the I.E Repin State Academic Institute of Arts in St. Petersburg and was in 2001 admitted to the Russian Union of Artists. Since then she travels the world, devotes herself with dedication to the Pleinair-Painting, to the beauty of the nature, the light, the ocean, the trees, the portrait, and succumbs now and then to the magical sentiment. On such a journey to Rhodos she meets her love who is now accompanying her to Döbeln.She simply acts out her romantic emotional impulses. Moreover, I believe having discovered a spiritual aspect in the reverberation of her color effects. She loves to compose and allows to be overwhelmed. Herman Hesse wrote: “Who has seriously walked the path of analysis a certain distance, the search for mental reasons of memories, dreams and associations, will reap as a permanent gain what we can call the more intimate relationship to one’s own subconscious. He will experience a warmer, more fertile, more passionate back and forth. He will bring to light what would otherwise be subtle and would only happen in unnoticed dreams.”The oil paintings of Natalia Simonenko seem to be of this kind. Her paintings are spirited. They describe the three elements, water, air and earth in the harmony of colors, with inner luster.In a way, I interpret the works as an intercession to gain control over the time, to evade the rush, which is currently capturing and undermining us. So differently one can see the world, so still and yet so full of language, so far and yet so present.May you discover the poetry of the visual universe of Natalia Simonenko.A warm welcome in Döbeln, Natalia Simonenko!