A LINE THAT PENETRATES MATTER _____ 21.11.2025 – 29.11.2025
___SPACE, Chemnitz, DE
For the exhibition A Line that Penetrates Matter, Sofiia Yesakova creates a sense of iisolation through the use of semi-transparent polyethylene film covering the surfaces of the space, immersing the viewer in an intimate, almost sacred, timeless zone. The space, isolated from the external world, becomes a place for concentrating attention on the line as a metaphorical element. The lines cut through the tranquil space, their elegance contrasting with the contextual component, creating a feeling of vulnerability.
Matter, after being pierced, remains, only its form changes. For Georges Bataille, a wound or cut is “the revelation of a secret or an access to the sacred,” and “the sacrifice—an act where pain acquires a sacred dimension.” In the Renaissance, piercing with arrows was used as an aesthetic device. The strict lines emphasize the fragility and tension of the body. For Bataille, the piercing of the body is a symbolic rupture of boundaries, through which the subject encounters an extreme experience. The openings of wounds and penetrating lines in the presented works subject matter
to a graphic structure, creating a tangible tension of sacred connection. The wood (matter) retains a “memory of pain.” In the cracks, scars, and traces of tools, the experience of time and touch is recorded.
Throughout the entire exhibition runs the idea of fear of the inexplicable and the aestheticization of it as a final acknowledgment of humility in the face of the impossibility of rationalizing it. The fear of physical death, as well as the inevitability of decay, is traced in the works from the series “Ugly Scenes. Nuances.” Yesakova explores these fears through distortion and deformation, transforming ugliness and suffering into an aesthetic object of reflection. The aestheticization of suffering as an act of humility. The central object of the exhibition is an eye, pierced by a metallic element and seemingly forced to remain open. A mute witness, and at the same time a symbol of vulnerability. This is a reference to Lucia of Syracuse, the saint often depicted holding her own eyes on a plate in her hands.
All the objects of the exhibition are united by a tangible cinematographic sensitivity, as well as subconscious fears, which refer to Georges Bataille’s reflections on eroticism and death.
Curated by Thomas Gallmann
Text by Sofiia Yesakova on the exhibition A Line that Penetrates Matter
Solo exhibition
Ugly scenes. Nuances 3.1., maple wood, beeswax, solvent-based wood paint, acrylic glas, multiplex, metal rod, acrylic, 2025
Ugly scenes. Nuances 3.1., maple wood, beeswax, solvent-based wood paint, acrylic glas, multiplex, metal rod, acrylic, 2025. Close-up
Exhibition view. Ugly scenes. Nuances 3.1.-3.5., maple wood, beeswax, solvent-based wood paint, acrylic glas, multiplex, metal rod, acrylic, 2025
Ugly scenes. Nuances 3.1., maple wood, beeswax, solvent-based wood paint, acrylic glas, multiplex, metal rod, acrylic, 2025
Exhibition view. Ugly scenes. Nuances 3.1.-3.5., maple wood, beeswax, solvent-based wood paint, acrylic glas, multiplex, metal rod, acrylic, 2025
Ugly scenes. Nuances 3.1., maple wood, beeswax, solvent-based wood paint, acrylic glas, multiplex, metal rod, acrylic, 2025
