Sofiia Yesakova (b. 1998) lives and works in Berlin. She is a current participant in the Berlin postgraduate Program Goldrausch Künstlerinnen. Sofiia is also a member of Frontviews at HAUNT Berlin and in the curatorial board.
Central to her artistic practice is the research into the increasing role of information in regulating human behaviour, total control, as well as the rapid adaptation to any situation and the reduction of everything to statistics. A search for truth in a stream of interference. Sofiia has chosen lifeless language as an alternative form of artistic narrative - a diagram or an engineering-like schematic drawing. Bureaucratically consistent, dry and lifeless. She uses language of minimalism, but also focuses on expressing thoughts and emotions, reflecting, and conveying the atmosphere, that is, what minimalism has tried to deny and possibly suppress. For Sofiia, the balance between emotionality and rationality is important (the direction that prefers the mind to the senses in cognition, turns away from sensory reality). Now a main material for the artist is gesso, wood and a lot of layers of gelatine. To create works, she uses different techniques such as woodcarving, icon painting, multi-layered approach, blueprint-like drawings and also installation designed specifically for certain spaces with an attitude of respect for architecture.
"In recent years, I have been inspired by the idea of ciphering and creating a certain structure of visual storytelling. I was inspired to do this by the engineering drawings of my partner, who is a civil engineer by profession. These drawings are also a certain cipher that few can read. In my artistic practice I work a lot with spatial interventions in order to create certain emotions and sensations in the spectator, not only from the work but also from the architectural experience. For me the sensations of reality and illusion, the boundary between the emotional and the rational, the tension between softness and hardness are important to me.
The contradictory feelings of the elegance of the refined forms of the wooden planks with their oppressive contextual part is an important part of understanding my work. The element of absence is the result of deliberately rejecting the figurative images and pieces we understand. Many of the works with drawings are also resembling frescoes in a temple, part of the wall of which seems to have been removed from and moved into the gallery space. There is another connection to the religious theme.
An important contextual support is the iconology I use to communicate with the viewer, as well as the multi-layered complexity of our history and symbolism.
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 a current participant in the Berlin postgraduate Program Goldrausch Künstlerinnen. Sofiia is also a member of Frontviews at HAUNT Berlin and in the curatorial board.
Central to her artistic practice is the research into the increasing role of information in regulating human behaviour, total control, as well as the rapid adaptation to any situation and the reduction of everything to statistics. A search for truth in a stream of interference. Sofiia has chosen lifeless language as an alternative form of artistic narrative - a diagram or an engineering-like schematic drawing. Bureaucratically consistent, dry and lifeless. She uses language of minimalism, but also focuses on expressing thoughts and emotions, reflecting, and conveying the atmosphere, that is, what minimalism has tried to deny and possibly suppress. For Sofiia, the balance between emotionality and rationality is important (the direction that prefers the mind to the senses in cognition, turns away from sensory reality). Now a main material for the artist is gesso, wood and a lot of layers of gelatine. To create works, she uses different techniques such as woodcarving, icon painting, multi-layered approach, blueprint-like drawings and also installation designed specifically for certain spaces with an attitude of respect for architecture.
"In recent years, I have been inspired by the idea of ciphering and creating a certain structure of visual storytelling. I was inspired to do this by the engineering drawings of my partner, who is a civil engineer by profession. These drawings are also a certain cipher that few can read. In my artistic practice I work a lot with spatial interventions in order to create certain emotions and sensations in the spectator, not only from the work but also from the architectural experience. For me the sensations of reality and illusion, the boundary between the emotional and the rational, the tension between softness and hardness are important to me.
The contradictory feelings of the elegance of the refined forms of the wooden planks with their oppressive contextual part is an important part of understanding my work. The element of absence is the result of deliberately rejecting the figurative images and pieces we understand. Many of the works with drawings are also resembling frescoes in a temple, part of the wall of which seems to have been removed from and moved into the gallery space. There is another connection to the religious theme.
An important contextual support is the iconology I use to communicate with the viewer, as well as the multi-layered complexity of our history and symbolism.
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."