Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Periods of Art History Converge in Masha Gusova’s Paintings

The paintings of Moscow-born, Copenhagen-based artist Masha Gusova are not only in dialogue with art history, but also stir conversations within a single work. In creating these surreal convergences between scenes, the artist attempts make us "reassess the old patterns of thought that we are all subject to, and the need for us to allow them to shatter and be restructured throughout time.”

The paintings of Moscow-born, Copenhagen-based artist Masha Gusova are not only in dialogue with art history, but also stir conversations within a single work. In creating these surreal convergences between scenes, the artist attempts make us “reassess the old patterns of thought that we are all subject to, and the need for us to allow them to shatter and be restructured throughout time.”

A statement says that Gusova’s work is “inspired by her background in art history. She uses various historical images, which she distorts in order to question our fragile belief systems and challenge our contemporary aesthetic values. From a visual perspective, she is interested in embracing and reconciling the mastery of the past with the innovation of the present.”

The artist’s work has been show across the world, with recent shows at Haven Gallery, Jonathan Levine Projects, and Jessup Cellars Gallery. See more of her work below.

Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
Brin Levinson’s paintings depict worlds in which humans have lived, but now animals seem to rule. These ghost towns, with similar landmarks and industrial vibes to the city the Portland resident calls home, imply that mankind’s abuse of the land and its creatures resulted in its exit. These works appear in a new show from Levinson, titled “Anthropocene,” which now hits Antler Gallery in Portland. The show lasts through Nov. 22. Levinson was most recently featured on HiFructose.com here.
Takahiro Hirabayashi is trained in traditional Japanese painting, but in his mixed-media work, he applies these age-old techniques to contemporary portraits with a sci-fi element. Hirabayashi's characters seem to inhabit a world in decline. In many of his paintings, they appear with blood-like stains running from their mouths, and their skin often looks cracked to expose ripe, pink flesh. They seem to be disintegrating before our eyes, and the traces of their carnivorous feasts left on the front of their shirts hint at their desperation to survive in a post-apocalyptic world.
South African artist Linsey Levendall has a hyper-detailed style that appears at once chaotic and controlled. His work moves between surreal scenes packed with figures and objects that nearly resemble Rube Goldberg machine in their connectivity and a looser, multi-hued style that focuses on a single subject.
Kehinde Wiley's (Hi-Fructose Vol. 29) opulent portraiture subtly stirs the status quo. As an American artist, Wiley honed his craft in accordance with a legacy of Euro-centric art history that left him simultaneously awed and alienated. One would be hard-pressed to find a grandiose portrait of a person of color in the works of the Renaissance masters in the Met or the Louvre. This is the motivating factor of Wiley's oeuvre: to elevate images of average people of African descent through his ornate depictions, exposing the singular beauty of his subjects through dramatic compositions that evoke the Baroque period.

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List