Sofiia Yesakova (b. 1998) lives and works in Berlin. She is currently participating in the Berlin postgraduate program Goldrausch Künstlerinnen. Yesakova is a member of Frontviews at HAUNT Berlin, where she is also part of the curatorial board.
Central to Yesakova’s artistic practice is the research into the increasing role of information in regulating and controlling human behaviour – being able as it is to rapidly adapt to any situation and reduce everything to statistics. A search for truth in a stream of interference.
Yesakova uses diagrams or engineering-like schematic drawings to arrive at an alternative form of artistic narrative – bureaucratically consistent, dry and lifeless. She often refers to theoretical concepts like Gilles Deleuze’s layering approach of thinking, Jacques Lacan’s analysis of society’s structures and Giorgio Agamben’s biopolitical concepts.
In recent years, Yesakova has been inspired by the idea of ciphering and creating a certain structure of visual storytelling, often inspired by engineering drawings. Using spatial interventions in order to create certain emotions and sensations, she deals with the intertwining of reality and illusion, the boundary between the emotional and the rational, or the the tension between softness and hardness.
In Yesakova’s work, the symbolism and imagery of the Renaissance may intersect with rigid constructivist forms, and plans and drawings from concentration camps contrast with the clean idiom of minimalism. A lot of her works make reference to the formerly religious context of art. They use iconology or resemble frescoes from a temple – like a part of a wall taken from its original context and moved into the gallery space. Working with materials like gesso, wood and layers of gelatine, Yesakova uses different techniques such as woodcarving, icon painting, blueprint-like drawings and site-specific installations in regard to the history of the place and with respect for its architecture.
Giulia Bresciani, The Address gallery, Brescia, Italy, 2024:
"Sofiia Yesakova is a Ukrainian artist based in Berlin, who employs the minimalist aesthetic in her work. However, she goes beyond mere simplicity, which often involves transcending the conventional boundaries to explore complexity and depth in order to articulate ideas and emotions.
As a matter of fact her art seeks to capture and convey the atmosphere, embracing elements that minimalism has traditionally sought to reject or possibly subdue.
For Sofiia, the balance between emotionality and rationality is important; striking an equilibrium involves recognizing when each is appropriate and integrating them harmoniously. Her works perfectly represent the moment we are living in, a socio-political situation enclosed between history and actuality, tragedy and salvation. The first work related to the war Sofiia did was on the second month of the war, at that time she was in Ukraine, namely in Kyjiw. After realising the horror that was going on around her, from hyper-emotionalism and growing anxiety, the only true way was to switch to rationalisation of what was happening.
In Sofiia's artworks there is a reference to religiosity. A starting point is definitely the Renaissance works, characterized by calm landscape in the background, despite the often quite dynamic scenes with human bodies depicted. Sofiia chose the same motif, transferring it to the absolutely tense landscape of the front lines. The calmness is diluted only by the strict lines, as if cutting the surface of the work and causing a feeling of insecurity and inner anxiety. Also an important motif in her works is the depiction of the drone's target and the view from a slightly different perspective. This is an interpretation of the classical subject of the crucifixion works, but without human figures. We see the target of the drone and also the explosion, which for the artist is a symbol of sacrifice in a modern context. The artist prefers to work with hard surfaces, doing a lot of technical manipulations without damaging them. But the most important thing is that she prepares the surface as for an icon, using gelatine and a special gesso. It is important for her to use this technique because the sacrality in her works plays an important role."
Sofiia Yesakova (b. 1998) lives and works in Berlin. She is currently participating in the Berlin postgraduate program Goldrausch Künstlerinnen. Yesakova is a member of Frontviews at HAUNT Berlin, where she is also part of the curatorial board.
Central to Yesakova’s artistic practice is the research into the increasing role of information in regulating and controlling human behaviour – being able as it is to rapidly adapt to any situation and reduce everything to statistics. A search for truth in a stream of interference.
Yesakova uses diagrams or engineering-like schematic drawings to arrive at an alternative form of artistic narrative – bureaucratically consistent, dry and lifeless. She often refers to theoretical concepts like Gilles Deleuze’s layering approach of thinking, Jacques Lacan’s analysis of society’s structures and Giorgio Agamben’s biopolitical concepts.
In recent years, Yesakova has been inspired by the idea of ciphering and creating a certain structure of visual storytelling, often inspired by engineering drawings. Using spatial interventions in order to create certain emotions and sensations, she deals with the intertwining of reality and illusion, the boundary between the emotional and the rational, or the the tension between softness and hardness.
In Yesakova’s work, the symbolism and imagery of the Renaissance may intersect with rigid constructivist forms, and plans and drawings from concentration camps contrast with the clean idiom of minimalism. A lot of her works make reference to the formerly religious context of art. They use iconology or resemble frescoes from a temple – like a part of a wall taken from its original context and moved into the gallery space. Working with materials like gesso, wood and layers of gelatine, Yesakova uses different techniques such as woodcarving, icon painting, blueprint-like drawings and site-specific installations in regard to the history of the place and with respect for its architecture.
Giulia Bresciani, The Address gallery, Brescia, Italy, 2024:
"Sofiia Yesakova is a Ukrainian artist based in Berlin, who employs the minimalist aesthetic in her work. However, she goes beyond mere simplicity, which often involves transcending the conventional boundaries to explore complexity and depth in order to articulate ideas and emotions.
As a matter of fact her art seeks to capture and convey the atmosphere, embracing elements that minimalism has traditionally sought to reject or possibly subdue.
For Sofiia, the balance between emotionality and rationality is important; striking an equilibrium involves recognizing when each is appropriate and integrating them harmoniously. Her works perfectly represent the moment we are living in, a socio-political situation enclosed between history and actuality, tragedy and salvation. The first work related to the war Sofiia did was on the second month of the war, at that time she was in Ukraine, namely in Kyjiw. After realising the horror that was going on around her, from hyper-emotionalism and growing anxiety, the only true way was to switch to rationalisation of what was happening.
In Sofiia's artworks there is a reference to religiosity. A starting point is definitely the Renaissance works, characterized by calm landscape in the background, despite the often quite dynamic scenes with human bodies depicted. Sofiia chose the same motif, transferring it to the absolutely tense landscape of the front lines. The calmness is diluted only by the strict lines, as if cutting the surface of the work and causing a feeling of insecurity and inner anxiety. Also an important motif in her works is the depiction of the drone's target and the view from a slightly different perspective. This is an interpretation of the classical subject of the crucifixion works, but without human figures. We see the target of the drone and also the explosion, which for the artist is a symbol of sacrifice in a modern context. The artist prefers to work with hard surfaces, doing a lot of technical manipulations without damaging them. But the most important thing is that she prepares the surface as for an icon, using gelatine and a special gesso. It is important for her to use this technique because the sacrality in her works plays an important role."