Shadows — Kruglyanskaya’s first set of works in a series of three exhibitions that will be held throughout 2025 — brings together paintings that both pay homage and question the legacy of the artists whose work has inspired and shaped her practice: Josef Albers, Edouard Manet, René Magritte, Anthea Hamilton, as well as numerous examples of the female figure throughout art history. These new works explore both the nature of artistic influence and the ongoing, and enduring, conversation about the future of painting.
Textile design, graphic art and the various histories and trajectories of painting all find their way into Kruglyanskaya’s work. There is a playful element to the way she reformulates these histories — still life, cartoonish figures, trompe l’oeil, all are brought together in her own conversation about art.
Shadows reframes her influences by marrying them with the long shadows cast by the light entering her painting studio. There are all kinds of shadows in these works, both literal and figurative. Strong shadows fall across some works, lighter, dappled ones curve across figures and artefacts (which are themselves shadows; hints of the questions the artists is seeking to raise in her works).
At the heart of these shadow paintings are women, often represented in barely-there lines and abstractions of form. Who are these women? We see a handbag here, a pet dog there, the hint of jewellery, of bodily shape and figure, but we are left to question who they are, both in the paintings and, perhaps even more, in life itself. In these paintings the women barely exist and yet they are often the central motif, the very presence of the painting-shadows beneath the shadows, a series of lines and swirling curves, laid on top of the other references and influences that have shaped the artist’s practice.
Kruglyanskaya seems to hold all her influences lightly. On the canvas at least, there is a playfulness to these works. But Shadows is a series of works which invite a deeper reflection on the influences and perspectives which shape her life and practice, and invite the viewer to consider their own.
Ella Kruglyanskaya
Shadows
Thomas Dane Gallery
28 Feb—3 may, 2025
Barry Taylor writes and speaks about the intersections of philosophy, theology and contemporary culture. In past, he was the road manager for AC/DC during the Bon Scott era before becoming a Los Angeles theologian.
