Yevgeniya Baras – Clocks deep in us
The fantasy world often serves as an escape from reality, its limitations, and its many social, economic, and corporeal restrictions. Reality, in turn, is often desired amidst the delusions of the fantastic. However, the two are not always separate. The artist pulls from a diverse set of references: from Shiva Lingam paintings that are seen as symbols of energy, then to the abstract physicality of Elizabeth Murray's work, to the delicate and decorative from Florine Stettheimer and the Early American Modernist Visionary works of Forrest Bess –
Baras's works are physical, archaeological and gritty. Her work takes abstraction to its most tactile moment and then folds in cryptic codes on the surface of the paintings that the viewer is invited to decode.
The world of fantasy often serves as an escape from reality, its limitations, and its many social, economic, and corporeal restrictions. Reality, in turn, is often desired amidst the delusions of the fantastic. However, the two are not always separate.
Dissolving the boundary between the fantastic and the real, 68projects’ residence artist Yevgeniya Baras’s paintings are porous objects that remix the restrictions of any stable realm.
In these artworks, positioned between object and image, material has its own life. Burlap, wool, tire rubber, fabric, stones, and wood are often physically attached to the painting’s surface and simultaneously incorporated into the image itself, becoming an integral part of the work.
Through references to what appear to be ancient codes, Baras’s works both affirm and erase narratives. Whenever a pattern becomes recognizable, it is immediately undermined through repetition and transformation, never holding onto a symbol long enough to imbue it with a fixed meaning.
By resisting the use of defined symbols and constantly altering them, Baras’s works become cyclical—works of flows and transitions. Her paintings play with time and embody ideas through process. Shapes in her paintings appear outlined as if their edges are dancing—holding the boundary of form without rigidity.
Drawing from a diverse set of references, including Shiva Lingam paintings seen as symbols of energy, the abstract physicality of Elizabeth Murray’s work, the delicate and decorative qualities of Florine Stettheimer, and the early American modernist visionary works of Forrest Bess, Baras’s paintings are physical, archaeological, and gritty. They push abstraction to its most tactile moment, embedding cryptic codes into the surface of the paintings that viewers are invited to decipher.
Yevgeniya Baras is a painter living and working in New York, NY. She received her BA from the University of Pennsylvania in Fine Arts and Psychology, alongside an MS in Education, and earned her MFA in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she was also a recipient of the Graduate Honors Fellowship.
Baras co-founded and curated Regina Rex Gallery from 2010 to 2018 and was the co-founder and curator of Bull and Ram, a migratory curatorial project, from 2011 to 2015.
In September 2019, she presented a solo exhibition at Reyes Projects in Detroit, MI, USA, as well as another solo exhibition at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery in New York, NY, USA.
Her work has been shown at numerous institutions and galleries across the United States, including The Landing, Steven Harvey Fine Art, Jeff Bailey Gallery, FiveMyles Gallery, Morgan Lehman Gallery, and Gavin Brown’s Enterprise. Her work has been featured and reviewed in publications such as Artforum, Los Angeles Times, Art in America, The New York Times, ArtNews, New York Times Review, Huffington Post, and New York Magazine.
