Yulia Gordeeva

How did the idea of creating one-of-a-kind artworks with handwritten stories first appear in your practice?

I have been studying at the art academy for almost a year now. And I can’t really say that it all began as an “idea” in the usual sense. It was more like a moment of oh, now I know what I need to do. In the field of spiritual development, this is often called recognition — as if you suddenly remember something you once knew.

At some point in my life, words stopped fitting into books, and images stopped fitting onto canvases on their own. It was as if they were searching for each other through me. One day, I simply took a pen and wrote text directly over a still-wet layer of oil paint — and the world came together as a complete picture. Since then, I no longer create “paintings” or “texts” separately. I create portals in which the story and the image exist as a single world, inseparable from one another.

My training as an art historian, of course, leaves its mark on the way I convey my art. I know what it was like “before” and what it became “after.” My work unfolds along the boundary of the here and now. That is precisely why I titled this series Through Time and Space. It is a kind of buffer zone, a timeless realm where everything exists simultaneously.

I have written a book for this exhibition — a novel-training — where, in the form of a fictional narrative, I explain how all of this “works.” The official launch of the book is planned for the end of January 2026.

Yulia Gordeeva | Timelessness | 2025

You write each text by hand with an old nib and ink. What inner state do you enter when you begin this process?

I’ve only just realized that your questions are wonderfully helping me to structure the work I’ve done over the past year. During this year, I wrote three books as part of a cycle about life transformation. And the second question relates directly to the second book — about how text, advertising, films, and everything an author or creator puts into their work affects us. It is incredibly important in what state you enter the process of creating your art objects.

It is a state of silence without inner emptiness. Like before a storm, when the air already knows what is about to happen. My personal “self” steps back in that moment. I do not bring my own experiences, programs, or moods into my works. I become a kind of channel through which information, codes, and energy pass. Only breath, the hand, and the flow remain. I never know exactly what will be written. I know only one thing — it will be said precisely. This has been confirmed by many people.

Yulia Gordeeva | A House That Remembers The Real You | 2025

Your project is based on the concept of a shared human historical code. How do you interpret or connect with this code while creating the stories?

I do not “connect” to it — I live inside it. This code resonates through the fears, desires, losses, and hopes that repeat themselves century after century. When I write, I do not think about time. As I said, the aim was to create a sense of timelessness — a space where every visitor can take exactly what they need. I feel how the same pain and the same love have passed through thousands of lives and have once again chosen to be heard now.

Yulia Gordeeva | Message In A Bottle | 2025

Each story on the canvas is unique and unpublished anywhere. How do these stories come to you?

They do not come “to me.” They come through me. This is very important. As an author, I usually have a waiting line of characters eager to speak (laughs). But as a creator, no — it’s as if the work appears out of nowhere and transforms into an art object. Like a quiet knowing that has simply reached the moment when it must be spoken. I can never recreate any of them, because each one comes exactly at the moment when it is needed by the world, not later. And indeed, just a few days after completing a painting, I can no longer remember what was written there.

I also love the “after” state: a slight tremor, emptiness in the mind, silence in the body, and an overall feeling of calm. The main thing at that moment is not to get behind the wheel (just kidding).

Yulia Gordeeva | Symbol Of The Year | 2025

Many of your painted figures appear turned away or immersed in themselves. What meaning do you find in this posture?

I would say the opposite — it is a return to oneself. When a person turns away from the viewer, they turn toward themselves. These figures are not hiding; they are listening. It is the moment when the external world stops dictating, and the inner world begins to speak. When the viewer looks at the painting, a button of focused attention is pressed within them, triggering the process of hearing themselves.

Your artworks are intentionally created without digital replicas. Why is the absence of digital trace important for this project?

Because not everything should be a mass-produced commodity. These works exist according to the laws of a precise, individual request. In my case, the paintings find their buyers on their own. It is as if they were created for someone specific — for the person who feels something shift inside when coming into contact with the piece. This cannot be put into words. You will certainly feel it if it is yours.

Look at the painting. How does it speak to you? It has weight, the smell of oil, the trace of a hand, the trembling of a line. Digital reproduction erases uniqueness. But my works are about presence. About the fact that this is a one-of-a-kind moment.

Of course, I do have pieces that will be reproduced — I am a businessperson as well. But not this series.

Yulia Gordeeva | The Train | 2025

What do you hope a collector feels when holding an artwork that exists only for them and cannot be repeated?

I want him to feel the encounter — the very thing he has been waiting for for so long. That state of “Hello, I’ve been waiting for you for so long,” followed by a breath of relief… As if life itself looked straight at him for a moment and recognized him. I want it to be not about possession — “this is mine” — but about resonance: “this is about me.” And along with that, a strange sense of calm, as if something important has finally fallen into place.