Yelena Popova (B. 1978)

The work of the Russian-born, Nottingham-based artist Yelena Popova explores ideas of corporeality, visibility and materiality. The spectral yet physical Untitled is a prime instance of this practice, belonging to a series of works that the artist made while travelling through Estonia. Atop a texturally rich linen background that recalls the rationalist textiles of the Bauhaus, Untitled features sinuous, intertwining abstract forms rendered with delicate layers of paint. Diaphanous fields of pink, red, blue and yellow dance around and atop each other, snaking forms that evoke both the intersecting shapes of Russian Constructivism and the curvaceous cut-outs of Henri Matisse. Displayed in the 2012 Saatchi Gallery exhibition Gaiety is the Most Outstanding Feature of the Soviet Union, Untitled exhibits what curator Lupe Nùñez-Fernández describes as 'a sense of both dangerous asymmetry and of harmonious interconnectedness.' Since appearing at the Saatchi Gallery, Popova has exhibited across three continents, and in 2016 had a major solo exhibition at Nottingham Contemporary.