Natalia Jezova
Biography
Dr Natalia Jezova is an award-wining, multidisciplinary artist. She achieved her Professional Doctorate in Fine Art at the University of East London in 2021.
Natalia communicates through a wide variety of media, including photography, film and installation. Her art, which has been exhibited internationally, addresses cultural memory, identity and gender issues.
Natalia's professional career as an artist started around twenty years ago; her artistic work was mainly focused on figurative painting. Her desire to understand and contextualise the practice further, through combined research and studio practice, led her to undertake a Professional Doctorate in Fine Art. The Doctorate program has supported Natalia's creative evolution from a painter to a photographer and filmmaker.
Natalia's work is never quite what it first appears to be. Her images depict meticulously controlled compositions characterised by a classical aesthetic, tinged with poetic undertones of timeless desire and romance. Natalia's work creates immersive narrative scenarios that blur the lines between imagination, reality and memory. Her visual language, set within curiously symbolic environments, allows for a deep exploration of the themes that take her images far beyond what they reveal at first glance. Natalia's natural curiosity, interest and knowledge of art history, coupled with the use of certain objects from her private collection of vintage costumes, accessories and armour, have served as an inspiration in the development of her ideas.
Natalia became a sight impaired a few years ago and she sees everything with a blurred double vision effect. This was one of the reasons why she started to use the superimposition technique (in which two images are simultaneously visible over each other) in her art practice. The layering of images on top of each other creates a new meaning and makes an impression on an almost subliminal level.
Natalia mixes classical and modern aspects and her artworks are multi-layered, containing their own little secrets that viewers are invited to discover. As Natalia says: “What could be more enchanting than a mystery? I suppose, only the love for the mystery and the quest which one embarks on in trying to solve it.”
What’s your background?
My artistic path started in my early childhood. For ten years I attended music and art schools. In art school the curriculum was focused on classical methods of training: sculpture, painting, drawing, composition and art history.
My professional career as an artist started around twenty years ago, when I had clearly decided that this is a direction that I personally wanted to take. My BA and MA studies have been a fascinating challenge that has inspired me to further explore and develop my artistic work and knowledge. My desire to understand and contextualise my practice further, through combined research and studio practice, led me to undertake a Professional Doctorate. I achieved the Professional Doctorate in Fine Arts at the University of East London in 2021.
What does it mean to you to win the Collectors Art Prize?
I consider that winning the Collectors Art Prize important for my artistic journey. It is an endorsement of my art practice and an opportunity in the art sector to get noticed. It’s a rewarding experience with the chance to show my works to a wide audience.
What do you think is the role of art in the world today?
According to Fyodor Dostoevsky, art is as necessary for humankind as air. While it is there, we take it for granted, but once it disappears, we will suffocate.
The role of art formed by centuries upon centuries of philosophical ideas and experiences of creation.
Over the last four decades we have seen the commercialization of art and an increased emphasis on art as an investment and a tool of the financial markets. Art has become a commodity production and an entertainment.
The role of art has changed when it start being decided by the organisations and investors, who know little about art, like the World Economic Forum or banking sector. As recent studies show, this changes has adversely affected the role of art and all of the structures that surround contemporary art.
What would it be if you could change one thing about the art world?
I would support artists being creators and not commodities. Art should be a process of value finding, rather than a product.
What are your most significant professional achievements?
The most significant professional achievement in the last five years was completing the Professional Doctorate in Fine Arts. This professional doctorate has been an enriching experience and has increased my interest in theoretical research. I have raised my art practice to a professional level, which in turn has given me the confidence to participate in more than eighty exhibitions, including the 58th Venice Biennale. My works have been awarded at prestigious art competitions and festivals.
What do you wish to tell viewers about your work that might not come out explicitly? What do you hope to inspire with your artwork?
All my artworks are multi-layered, containing their own little secrets, that viewers are invited to discover. I want to evoke in viewer an emotional reaction, to make him think.
The contextual ideas for each my work are encoded through the symbolic meaning of objects and colours. “The unique nature of a symbol is that it gives access to deeper layers of reality which are otherwise inaccessible” (Tillich, 1964).
A few years ago I had started dramatically lose my vision. Now I can see only the blurry silhouettes with the double vision effect. This was one of the reasons why I started to use the superimposition technique (in which two images are simultaneously visible over each other) in my art practice.
The concept of juxtaposition creates thought-provoking metaphors for the viewer to react to. By linking one image with another, a resulting third meaning is ultimately conceived, metaphorically. This third metaphorical meaning acts as a device that allows the viewer to choose new conclusions. The viewer can decipher the story, or they can create their own narrative structures. The viewer becomes a participant.
With every my work, I wish to tell viewers: “What could be more enchanting than a mystery? I suppose, only the love for the mystery and the quest which one embarks on in trying to solve it.”
What advice would you give to the upcoming generation of artists?
I believe art’s positive transformative power. Art that inspires and makes you think. Art that makes you fly and does not crush.
My advice to the upcoming generation of artists - trust yourself and use artist’s unusual gift of foresight. And, I absolutely agree with Salvador Dali, “No masterpiece was ever created by a lazy artist.”
In what direction would you like to see your career go in the next five years?
As a multidisciplinary artist, my creative practice includes painting, filmmaking, photography, academic research and writing. At the moment the foundational intention behind these interwoven aspects is to conclude the “Secrets Breed Secrets” project.
Throughout my life, paintings by Old Masters have come to have a big influence on me. I am fascinated by their unsurpassed technical qualities, their mysterious representation of dramatic light and their masterful use of composition. However, I appreciate not only their technical skill but also their incredible ability to convey to a viewer the subtext of the picture hidden behind the symbolic meanings of colours and details. Many Renaissance masterpieces, with their unique placement of objects and use of distinctive colour palettes, are coded ‘books’ filled with secrets and hints. You just need to know the ciphers for these codes to understand what their author wanted to convey.
I started the “Secrets Breed Secrets” project during the Сovid-19 Lockdowns. It includes the research and decoding of secrets encrypted in famous Renaissance paintings by Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael, Botticelli, Michelangelo and others.
In my professional practice I plan to continue participate in conferences, exhibitions and competitions.
Country United Kingdom
Website www.nataliajezova.com
