light matter

“Every situation is fluid, every moment and every viewer. Space is the origin. It exists before the work itself, before the viewer. Art lives from the place, the everyday, time.” — Yoana Tuzharova, 2022

Cologne-based artist Yoana Tuzharova (born 1986) is not deterred by boundaries – quite the opposite: she combines seemingly contradictory elements into exciting new combinations. In her work with color and light, she employs sculptural strategies: she layers planes, forming forms from surfaces and, in doing so she transforms the exhibition space itself. Additionally, as a painter, she plays with colors, shadows, and contrasts. And as a light artist, she blends pigment and light colors, artificial and natural light.

Perhaps the most important aspect of Tuzharova's art is the dynamic interplay between art and its surroundings. Her interventions not only transform the space; conversely, the surrounding space—both inside and out—constantly generates new perspectives and insights into the work. This becomes particularly evident when, during the day, sunlight streams through the shop windows, moving across her flat sculptures in the form of sharply defined, distorted trapezoids. At night, the urban lights of streetlights and traffic enter into a dialogue with the artwork. With every change in light, a new network of relationships emerges between shapes and colors, inside and outside.