Wesen

In their art Tania Bedriñana and Maryna Baranovska address existential questions of our time: What does internal freedom mean? What role does the individual play in society? What do foreignness and isolation mean? What is female identity? And how do men relate to nature? Without appealing to our moral conscience both artists respectively express their individual experiences in their works, which the exhibition Wesen brings together for the first time.
The title Wesen can be translated with creatures or beings and refers to the figures in the images – be it Tania Bedriñana’s childlike beings or Maryna Baranovska’s tree creatures. The term also refers to Dasein (existence), which implies a certain temporality. For Martin Heidegger “wesen” means dwelling, lasting, living. It is the ownmost being, its essence, that can be seen in contrast to its sheer appearance. In their art the two artists do not illustrate a certain story, nor do they follow a concept. They rather try to capture the moment of appearance, which conceals the essence. The moment in which something emerges from the surface, lingers there or disappears again is the mystery of painting, which both artists radically try to unravel. In their mostly large-scale paintings they create colour spaces, whose atmospheres envelop the viewer. Both artists can rely on a classical art education, which for Bedriñana began in Lima and for Baranovska in Kiev. Both have developed their artistic career in Berlin from the 2000s until today. Here they found their individual expression and an archetypical motif respectively, which is rooted in their experiences, feelings, aspirations, and fears.