Katerina Kvacheva

Year of birth: 1981. 
Where do you live: Belarus, Minsk.
Your education: I graduated from the art gymnasium at the Belarusian Academy of Arts.
Your discipline: I work with painting, in an expressive manner, mixed media, with collage, acrylic and oil.
Website | Instagram

Your works often convey deep emotions and symbolism. How do you decide which feelings to express through each piece?

When I stand in front of a blank canvas, I am always overcome with a sense of excitement and anticipation. Each brushstroke is not just a movement, but a way to express what is deep inside me. I choose what meanings to put into my work based on several key aspects.

Firstly, I turn to my own experiences and emotions. Life events, joys and sorrows become the building blocks from which I build my work. I strive to convey not only my feelings, but also to create a space where the viewer can recognize themselves, see a reflection of their experiences.

Secondly, I am inspired by the world around me: nature, people, culture. Every new acquaintance, every moment in life can become a source of a symbol or metaphor. I love to explore how different elements can interact with each other, creating new meanings and associations.

It is also important to consider context and history. I study the work of other artists, various artistic movements and philosophical ideas. This allows me not only to expand my horizons, but also to find unique ways to interpret known themes. Finally, I always strive for a dialogue with the viewer. Something that may seem obvious to me may have a completely different perception in another person. I leave room for interpretation so that everyone can find their own meanings in my works.

Thus, the process of choosing deep and symbolic meanings is always a synthesis of personal experience, observations, cultural context and interaction with the audience. Each painting is an invitation to reflection, to search for answers to questions that concern us all.

Katerina Kvacheva | Bride | 2023

You use collages with elements like newspapers and musical notes from different countries. What role do these materials play in your artistic process?

Collages occupy a special place in my work, being not only a technique, but also a philosophy of working with material. They allow me to create multi-layered, multi-faceted works that reflect the complexity of our world and human experience.

When I use different elements, such as pages from old newspapers, musical notes or natural materials, I strive to connect different stories and contexts. Each detail I add carries its own story, and together they form a new whole. It is like a conversation between eras, styles and emotions. For example, a newspaper can symbolize the daily routine and news, while musical notes can convey feelings and evoke melodies in our fantasies that are difficult to express in words.

Collages also allow me to experiment with shapes and compositions. I can easily manipulate elements, create unexpected combinations and find new visual solutions. This gives me freedom of expression and the opportunity to explore the topics that excite me from different angles.

Ultimately, collages in my work are not just a technique, but a way to create multi-layered Narratives that can be interpreted in different ways. They allow the viewer to immerse themselves in a world where each element has meaning and can evoke emotions, memories or reflections. I believe that it is in this interaction between different materials and ideas that the real magic of art is born.

Katerina Kvacheva | Brightness | 2022

Your paintings combine expressive techniques with irony. How does this blend help you communicate the themes of your work?

The combination of expressive technique and ironic accents in my work has become a real discovery. This interaction allows me to not only express my feelings and ideas, but also to add layers, making the viewer think about what lies behind the external appearance of the work.

Expressive technique, with its bright colors, dynamic brushstrokes and powerful shapes, allows me to convey the emotions and energy of the moment. I strive to make the viewer feel the passion and intensity with which I work. It is like a noisy stream that captures and captivates, creating an atmosphere of spontaneity and sincerity.

However, adding ironic accents to this expression becomes a kind of counterpoint. Irony allows me to look at serious topics from a different angle, showing their absurdity or paradox. It can be something that at first glance seems light or even playful, but upon deeper consideration reveals more serious questions. For example, I can use comic images or distorted forms to emphasize the absurdity of certain social phenomena or human relationships.

This combination creates space for dialogue. The viewer can laugh, be surprised, and then think about what exactly I wanted to convey. Irony helps create distance, allowing me to discuss difficult or painful topics without causing a defensive reaction in the viewer. In this sense, the work becomes not just an expression of my thoughts, but also an invitation to reflect.

Thus, the expressive technique and ironic accents in my work work as two complementary elements, creating multi-layered and profound works. It is like a conversation in which emotions and humor intertwine, forcing the viewer to immerse themselves in a world where every detail matters, and every smile can hide deeper meanings.

Katerina Kvacheva | Eva in the garden | 2023

You have a background in both painting and sculpture. How do these disciplines influence each other in your creative process?

One of my creative techniques is sculpture. My experience in sculpture gives me both inspiration for further work with painting and the study of volumetric forms, expands the vision of the object in space, the arrangement of shadows. This is a separate world where you can create a mood, dynamics and experiment with forms in space. Sculpture is an endless source of inspiration for me.

As someone who works in the fashion industry, how does your experience as an art director, stylist, and makeup artist affect your approach to painting?

In everyday life, I work as an art director of fashion shoots, a stylist and a make-up artist. I create unique concepts, mood boards and stylistic images. This is an incredible, exciting, constantly changing and energetic work experience. I try to follow fashion trends, as well as be a trendsetter in my work and with my team. I study the history of fashion, styles that are often intertwined with art, eras, time. We often travel with our team to different countries of the world and create unique shoots, conveying all the beauty of the environment.

I believe that the unique taste and sense of beauty in our lives are formed by observation and environment. It is like an endless kaleidoscope and a puzzle. The vision of beauty forms incredible concepts, ideas and pictures in your brain, expands the boundaries of fantasy, which certainly helps in painting.

Katerina Kvacheva | Bohemian rhapsody | 2024

Your work seems to be a dialogue with the viewer about society and human nature. What responses or reactions do you hope to evoke?

In my silent dialogue with the viewer, I want to convey encrypted messages, where every detail matters and try to immerse the viewer in a space for his personal reflections. I try to convey in my works themes close to every person, such as: time, the beauty of the moment, love and sadness, the transience of beautiful youth, loneliness.

It is important for me that my works evoke resonance in the soul, from the feeling of lived experience in viewers, immerse them in memories of something forgotten, beautiful and complex at the same time, leaving a long aftertaste.