*1980 (Moskau)

What is beauty—reality or illusion? Is it an idea, a substance or only form? Does beauty in art have a right to exist? If so, how much space should it take up? How much conceptual responsibility must it take in order to justify its presence? If they could only speak, the biomorphic creations of Daria Surovtseva would surely pose these questions themselves. On the contrary, they are free from any rhetoric and bring their silent existence to fruition through bizarre proliferation and delicate expansion of their space. Unexpectedly refined, fragile, and ephemeral; made out of porcelain and transparent synthetic material, they seem to project fine threads of feminine sensuality into the material. Can they survive trapped in these conceptual frameworks?

After completing her training in the ceramics department at the Stroganovskij Institute, Daria Surovtseva follows up with an internship at the famous porcelain manufacturer of Sèvres. As a result, she discovers porcelain in a new form for sculpture. Thin, costly, “feminine” material brings up images of frivolous tea parties and the everyday boudoir scenes of Rococo. In this case, the connection to Rococo is hardly perceptible: no conception or historical allusion can encumber these creations that strive for weightlessness. Only in music can we find an appropriate metaphor. The artist, who completed music school as a violinist, makes a conscious decision to make no difference between music and art in her biography. The fluctuations in her sculptures are reminiscent of visual notes—an extension of her sensitive fingers.

Daria Surovtseva is a member of the Moscow Artists Union, as well as the Moscow Designers Union, and has taken part in numerous exhibitions in Russia, Austria, Belgium, France, Korea and Hungary. Her works can be found in the Collection of the Moscow Museum for Contemporary Art (Art4ru), as well as in private collections in Belgium, Korea and France.

Selected exhibitions and activities:

1992

Concert of classical music in the Suzuki Orchestra (Violin), Cloudraft, USA

1998–2006

 Participation with the yearly exhibition of the Young Moscow Artists, winning first prize three times.

2000

Exhibition in the Gallery Nufa, Austria

2003

Gallery La Ferme de la Rose, exhibition for the 150 year celebration of diplomatic relations between Belgium and Russia, Brussels.

2003

Gallery Art and Actuality, Paris

2003–2006

International Art-Salon Moskow,
2005 Awarded first place

2005

Tho-Art Gallery, Korea

Solo exhibition in the Gallery Serge Panijel, Paris

2006

 „Power“, Museum für moderne Kunst, Moskow

Gallery RuArts, Moskow

Gallery ARTre.FLEX St. Petersburg

2007

International Festival of Modern Art „Pandi“, Moskow

 „Raum“, international exhibit of modern art, Moskow

 International festival „Dialoge“, St. Petersburg

 Gallery ARTreFLEX St. Peterburg

2007

75-year-celebration of the Moscow Artist’s Union, Moskow

 Art-Manege, Moskow

2008

Gallery „Art Marine“, Moskow

Gallery "Barbarian Art', 'Intimate Diaries', Zurich

International Art-Salon Moskow, 2005 Awarded first place