Inner landscapes in Kseniia Pozdeeva’s sketches

What can be drawn in sketches? Apart from being a preparatory stage for a main work, in the case of Kseniia Pozdeeva’s art they also are records of inner struggle and the search for spiritual balance.

Exploration of the duality of human nature is the main topic of Kseniia Pozdeeva’s work. The artist creates a visual space for reflection on eternal questions. And her sketches are philosophical meditations on the theme of good and evil, faith and doubt, love and pain.

Look at the series of drawings: ‘Chaos’, ‘Escape’ and ‘Peace’. Paradoxically, the last one contains sketches of the Holy Mary and does not radiate serenity. We find the saint’s face focused and even frightened in a state of struggle and anxiety.

The ‘Escape’ sketches depict figures from a fantasy world: a wizard and an elf girl. The artist immerses herself there when she cannot face reality. Both characters are also tense and on guard. I can suggest it shows Kseniia’s emotions releasing on paper.

Elf

Wizard

The most emotionally powerful works are in the ‘Chaos’ series. This is the artist’s dialogue with her own demons and fears. She reflects the acceptance of the inevitability of suffering, expresses a misunderstanding of human emotional closedness and inability to express their feelings to each other. The culmination of this conflict is a drawing of a heart on fire which symbolises the desire to break free from painful feelings.

Technically, Pozdeeva’s sketches show confident use of the pencil. Applying chiaroscuro she carefully balances light and shade. The viewer is caught by dramatic effects even in simple compositions. The lines are sharp and defined or soft and blurred depicting  different emotional states of the subject.

The artist pays particular attention to the eyes and facial expressions. The gazes of her characters are always directed somewhere to the side, as if they see what is hidden from the viewer. This creates an additional sense of understatement and tension.

Kseniia has always been interested in the eternal theme of good versus evil, morality and mortality, and the possibilities of human existence. She explores them believing in the power of faith in a divine principle. Looking at her works we experience how chaos and peace, escape and acceptance are connected in a dialectical unity.

Her sketches remind us that apart from being an aesthetic object art is also a tool for self-knowledge and catharsis. Drawings that render human experience and lead viewers towards the possibility of finding their own peace.