“Empty space" is the author herself reading somnambulistic poetry... where the text is read out by a beguiling voice, and then comes out as black lines on white coats hanging from the ceiling. Or it is anyone of us; empty space describes those moments of introspection, when an attempt to scrutinize and to ponder on oneself does not detect anything certain, stable, reliable, certain or substantial. On the contrary, everything is transitory and vague and it is not possible to understand how all this leads to something valuable, vital, thorough and life affirming: will, thought, desire and creative impulse...
Konstantin Agunovich, ‘Afisha’, 1 June 2011
A collage with a myriad of meanings, but lacking a central and important one is not as magical now as it used to be thirty years ago. The artist is aware of this change in the preference of the times at first hand; collage for her is a technique of the almost sculptural modeling of images and meanings. In a certain respect an approach using collage is a means of formatting oneself through contact with the textures of words, objects and experiences. Through a thin surface of collage, as if through the icy crust over snow, one can sink into the mire of faceless time. Or with light breath and the caution of a rope-walker one can perform a dance on the surface, that would transform amorphous time into an ideal and memorable shape; this is what Maria Dmitrieva strives for.
Ekaterina Andreeva, exhibition curator
