Lise Smirnova

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Lise Smirnova

Preferred pronouns:

she/her
Birth year:

1996
Primarily based in or works from:

Ukraine United Kingdom
Skills:

drawing painting video film editing installation stained glass technique
Topics:

language mythology war and conflict nature social east european
Contact information:

Currently working on:

I’m studying at the Open School East (UK),
where I’m preparing for the final show in June 2024. I'm also taking part in a
public programme where I'm speaking alongside other Ukrainian artists on the
topic of 'Art in Crisis' and doing an internship in the stained glass studio at
Canterbury Cathedral.

Quick Facts:

Lisa Smirnova was born in 1996 in the city of Kropyvnytskyi, Kirovohrad region, Ukraine. She holds a master's degree in Monumental Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture, Kyiv. In 2019 she continued her studies at KAMA (Kyiv Academy of Media Arts) majoring in Contemporary Art, and in 2020 with Method Fund. She was a member of the Ukrainian art group STO. During her studies, Lisa developed an expressive visual language, which in our time, in times of great change, social polarization and a pandemic, is becoming especially relevant.

Lisa's visual style is very diverse, even partially eclectic. She organically absorbs the traditions of Ukrainian painting, its fascination with the Soviet avant-garde and German expressionism, as well as an attentive attitude towards the combination of painting and graffiti. Lisa demonstrates knowledge of various techniques and media, a varied color palette and graphic clarity.
The artist is drawn to large canvases and complex formats that convey the shifts of easel and monumental painting, as well as to mixed techniques using oil, acrylic paints and pastels.

Three relevant works from the last 5 years of artistic practice:

Highest educational degree:

Master degree in Monumental Painting, Fine Arts, National Academy of Art and Architecture, Kyiv, Ukraine

Work samples:

Outpost of Freedom and Pain

Installation, 300×200сm, 2023

Outpost of Freedom and Pain is an expanded, sculptural painting which continues Lisa Smirnova’s ongoing experimentations with installation and mixed media. Consisting of a two-sided structure, the work presents a ‘double picture’, referencing the forced cohabitation of two cultures – Ukrainian and Russian – with one side representing the cultural and political landscape of Russia today and the other representing Ukraine.

Central to the depiction of Russian culture is the figure of a horse. The horse, a popular image in Russian culture, denotes both the burden of life, as well as life’s mystery, gravity and beauty. Russian state propaganda is very sophisticated and selective, conscientiously exploiting the Second World War and imperial white ambitions. Propaganda spreads like a form of folklore, with many absorbing its evil ambitions. The emaciation of the horse in this image denotes this condition.

On the Ukrainian side, the central figure is that of a tree, a popular image in Ukrainian poetry. The artist uses the tree to symbolise the importance of freedom, growth, security and hope. Sgraffito pieces and textile are also employed, referring to Soviet Ukrainian monumental art.

Between the two-sided structure lies a gap, depicting the boundary between these two cultures, but also the commonalities and points of convergence between Russians and Ukrainians, which is increasingly difficult to maintain as a result of the war.

Disclaimer:

The position of the author is not the official position of the war. The author expresses purely her position based on personal experience and does not try to propagandise peace between Russia and Ukraine.

Working Wind, 05' 00', 2020

Lisa's video is an ironic statement about fear of the apocalypse and the death of painting. In the video, four painters attach canvases to random street constructions and try to paint on them without stretchers which proves almost impossible. The artists are like Stalkers in the Tarkovsky: roaming the post-apocalyptic zone of modernity, a zone of uncertainty and anxiety that prevails in the everyday world and surrounds us everywhere. Nevertheless, the artist continues to paint his canvas.

The wind’s movement of the canvas resembles the excitement of the artist at work. The creation of a painting is represented not as a declining practice here, but as experimentation with its development even as its death is repeatedly proclaimed.

Internship in the stained glass studio at Canterbury Cathedral

“Success”

Skulls and Flowers,, 03'50'', 2018

The work was done for the exhibition "Educational Acts" in the student art space "SKLO". The theme of the exhibition was devoted to different types of violence, which are often justified by traditional values. I wanted to talk about the role of the artist in covering the topic of violence. How long an artist can stay away from politics. To do this, I turned to words from an interview with Andy Warhol - an example of a conformist position. When asked if he had once done portraits of Mao as a communist, Warhol said that he would paint Hammer and Sickle for the Communists, and Skulls for the Nazis.Using his images with skulls in this interpretation, in this video I tried to convey the fear and tension that an artist can experience for expressing his political position. The exhibition "Educational Acts" itself was closed the day after the opening. Administration of the University of Drahomanov, who knew in advance about the subject of the exhibition, was frightened by vandalism from right-wing radical groups and, without the knowledge of the artists and curators, dismantled the exhibition on her own.

Smile of new order, 2021

I combined some of the most enjoyable things in the art of modern still life and interior design, with cartoon characters, creatures from our fantasies: pokemon, digimon, which are supposedly living pets here. It's about such a contrast with the big goals in art, but at the same time, I think that in some ways, animation has become a continuation of modernist art. In addition, this is a reference to the creative process, considered as about copying and copying. As a child, we draw all these funny pictures for fun, and then when we seriously study art, we copy the old masters, sometimes forgetting about the pleasure.