Yoana Tuzharova - Im Schein der Dinge

In the organizer's words:

Using artificial light, photography and nature, Yoana Tuzharova explores the embodiment of light in different states. In her light and color painting, she expands artificial light beyond its immaterial appearance to become an integral part of the painterly process: light not only makes color visible - it becomes color itself. While light plays a neutral role in classical painting, serving primarily to model brightness and shadow, in Tuzharova's works it functions as a coloring material.

She achieves this transformation by combining established painting techniques - such as tempera, varnish and acrylic painting on self-formed, primed wooden materials or canvases - with electronically controlled RGB LED systems that generate spectral light. This hybrid working method expands the possibilities of color mixing by allowing additive and subtractive color systems to work simultaneously.

Space plays a central role here: light needs space to unfold its effect. Labyrinthine areas of color structure the spatial objects, creating partitions, niches and corners. The pictorial space always remains in the field of tension between concealment and permeability. The viewer wanders through it visually and continuously experiences new color overlays that only unfold through active exploration. Every movement changes perception, every superimposition of light and color opens up another dimension of aesthetic experience.

Space, light, surface and color merge into a unity that constantly redefines itself. Tuzharova's works invite us to experience the transition from materiality to light - an experience that penetrates deep into our perception and reminds us that seeing is an active, living process that goes beyond the purely visible.

As a counterpoint to the artificial light, the artist focuses on organic natural elements and their color palette. Botanical leaves and plants in particular, which have been transformed into square shapes, are at the center of this exploration. The exciting contrast between artificial light, organic material and strict geometry is complemented by new photographic works from Tuzharova's personal archive, which further explore the theme of the embodiment of light. The exhibition brings together new groups of works and concepts that reflect on our perception and use of light through the prism of human influence, technology and digitalization.