Natasha Voronchikhina
the Life Lover

Sasha Souther
PhD
18 december 2022
After the invention of the photo camera, there was no need for painting and graphic art to have the depicting the reality agenda on its agenda list. This way visual art got its freedom of expression. The outburst of different movements at the beginning of the 20th century demonstrates the vital need of artists to speak not one but many languages with their audiences. Thanks to all of that today's artists have a rich toolkit of creative linguistics they can use however they want.
I would like to focus on Natasha Voronchikhina oeuvre, which seems quite peculiar. Her method is a vivid reminder of Piet Mondrian's early landscapes which are mixed with the wild expression that Jackson Pollock had. Drawing everyday life is coping with reality method for Voronchikhina. Even in her statement, she says that creating images helps her to deal with anxiety issues she has as any worrier does.
Looking at the way how she depicts reality one can say that her manner is very expressive. The coloring she chooses is mostly pastel, but there are some pieces where the artist prefers to use bright jazzy elements.
Voronchikhina's creative work can be divided into two major themes: landscapes and food/objects. Studying them separately gives an opportunity to see the world through the artist's eyes.

Food and object part of Voronchikhina's oeuvre looks like some memory blurbs. As if one is trying to remember his/her grandmother's kitchen and what was so fascinating about it. Here we can find something that she takes from Paul Cézanne and Henri Matisse: reverse perspective, interest in bright colors, and simplicity of the line. All of these drawings can be actually called studies, due to how the artist portrays them. She has no intention to make a tasty image you can use for a commercial video. Her objects are models who may be transferred into a large-scale piece in the future.
Her landscape method can be compared to primitive art. Voronchikhina tends to stay in touch with her inner child. Because of that her lines are a bit broken; some images seem to have no enough depth, but that is the beauty of it. This childish approach creates a snapshot of the reality we live in from a new angle. There is also something cartoonish in it. It looks like she is in the process of making an animated shortcut where every detail will come to life in a blink.

Here I would like to focus on the artist's winter landscapes. There is a very obvious recreation of the uncreated light that Theophanes the Greek used in his icons. Voronchikhina's art has no intention to be religious, but the way how she creates a crossover of the world of art heritage in her chamber pieces is brilliant. The best part about it is that she not only works with the historical part but also rephrases it in a way, so we always know it is Natasha Voronchikhina, full stop.
To sum everything up, I can state that we are dealing with an artist who has based her creative method on the vivid interest in the surrounding reality. So here I would like to quote Voronchikhina herself: "My art is about loving life and every particle of it".
Sasha Souther
PhD
18 december 2022
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