Art Focus Now published the article by Ekaterina Wagner on Diana Machulina , with a comprehensive recount of the artist’s works from the 2000s until the present, including the project ‘Dance Macabre’ which is currently on display at Iragui gallery, Moscow.
‘Dance Macabre’ began as an exploration of the visible layers of history in Rome in 2013 when Diana Machulina received a fellowship at the American Academy (funded by the Joseph Brodsky Foundation). On archeological sites she visited she realized that “we were walking over the bones of the dead”, and they act as a palimpsest of different periods — ancient, medieval and modern Rome. In the article, Ekaterina Wagner states that “thus, was born the idea of a project with a universal, symbolic message drawn from medieval Danse Macabre prints and paintings” and “another obvious reference to Machulina’s project is Andy Warhol’s ‘Dance Diagram’ paintings of the 1960s that he displayed on the floor of his studio.”
The first ‘Dance Macabre’ show took place in the luxurious interiors of American Academy in Rome, in 2014. The current rendition of the ‘Dance Macabre’ project at Iragui gallery in Moscow is, as the critic wrote, “a timely reflection on mortality in an increasingly violent world and the epitome of minimalism. On the floor of the gallery and halfway up one of the walls there are two diagrams showing tango and quickstep moves and a few etchings with other classic dance moves. Following numbers and arrows, visitors can take part in this dance with death.” As the artist says — “now is not a time for glamour, luxury, or the baroque”.
Diana Machulina has established herself as an artist who uses a wide variety of different media, from painting to video and installation, exploring themes of cultural heritage, soviet and post-soviet reality, and death. Ekaterina Wagner reflects on the artist’s biography in the article “Born in Luhansk in the East of Ukraine at the dawn of perestroika, she moved to Moscow with her parents at the age of four, studied art and art journalism at several schools in Russia, and won an internship at the Stuttgart Art Academy. In Moscow, she attended the Institute for Contemporary Art and the Surikov Institute concurrently, the latter a stronghold of old-school realism. After graduation, at first, the artist was struggling with the role of a figurative painter due to her training in a traditional art academy. In 2008 Diana Machulina won the Kandinsky Prize in the category of ‘Best Young Artist of the Year’ and later she was nominated ‘Best Project of the Year’ for her installation ‘The Body of Labour’. During the past few years, Machulina has been a curator and educator at the HSE Art and Design School.”
The exhibition ‘Dance Macabre’ is on display until December, 8th, at Iragui gallery, Tuesday — Friday 2 pm — 7 pm, 7-5 Malaya Polyanka, Moscow.
Portrait of Diana Machulina — courtesy of the artist
