Ekaterina Dimieva
““Multiplicity must be made”, writes Paul Good in a 2007 essay on the work of Pia Fries. We are so busy thinking about what constitutes a good painting, we hardly ever consider the notion of a painting being in flux, undergoing transformation, becoming. Becoming-multiple is a nomadic way of thinking. Nomads don’t settle. They roam, they wander and they wonder. They follow rhythms, flows and forces. How can painting capture that which is constantly changing and evolving? How can one paint the multiple, the indeterminate? My work is about differentiation and interference, conflicting phases and intensities, and the state of becoming.“
Ekaterina Dimieva x mothermother 2020
'Bliss', 2019. Acrylic on Canvas. 1200x1500mm, image courtesy of the artist
'Through the Looking Glass', 2000x1200mm acrylic on canvas. image courtesy of monique lacey
'Elsewhere', acrylic on board, 1200x1200mm. image courtesy of the artist
Ekaterina Dimieva’s practice explores conflict, interference and the morphing states of transformation. It approaches the notion of painting as a sort of multiple flux. It’s a sense based enquiry that rejects answers in the singular. Her work strives to embody a rhythmic play of flows and forces, while generating their own multiplicity through the materiality of paint. The focus on sensation and utopia is central to her act of painting, with an emphasis on profusion, abundance and excess - in both the mark-making as well as the persistent use of pattern and a saturated colour palette.
Dimieva achieves a raw complexity to the surface with her wet-in-wet technique that gives way to dry brush staining. The overall effect compels the viewer to search out a potential intent or pattern. Yet, the patterning seems to extend to something off canvas... discordant and unravelled, it speaks to a different sort of grid or pattern matrix.
Ultimately the work is more like a puzzle, a riddle that celebrates the complex, the evolving, the sensual, and the feminine.