HAPPINESS ON AND OFF 2020

paintings/summer time 2017 oil on canvas 30x30cm.jpg

solo show curated by HAKA GROUP (catalogue) Köttinspektioen is a non-Commercial, artist run platform for theater, dance and visual arts, which opened in 2014, Uppsala. The building was originally a meat inspection agency and has high ceilings and industrial look. Haka, who co-founded Köttin- spektionen, is an artist group that was active since 2003. Haka curates the Visual art that is exhibited at Köttinspektionenan. Their aim is to supplement Uppsala art scene with interesting contemporary art, both national and international. The goal is that Köttinspektionen will be a Place where you can see exiting exhibitions, a Place where artists and creators are able to work in an innovative way and a Place for new ideas. Haka is Helena Laukkanen, Agneta Forslund, Katarina Sundkvist Zohari, An- na-Karin Brus and Natasha Dahnberg.

Happines on and of

The Meat Inspection presents an exhibition by Maria Pogorzhelskaya - a painter who, during her long career in the art, has become a responsive observer who, with all the power of painting, depicts the stillness and noise of life.

The exhibition Happines on and of shows paintings from the series Boys with IPads, Masks and Girls. Behind each series is a personal story. Stories that the artist lived through herself, as did many of us.

Maria Pogorzhelskaya works with postmedial painting. Behind all the paintings are photographs that she has taken herself or found in the endless internet noise. Photography’s mission to document is extended with the ability of the painting to transform the moment into eternity. When you see Marias paintings, a feeling of ease, whirlwind, happiness is created. The white canvas is sometimes illuminated by fast semi-transparent brush strokes, and is sometimes hidden behind strong color surfaces that are balanced by fast, dashed lines. Movement and stillness as painterly means not only create thoughtful compositions but also harmonize with the images that the artist creates in front of us. Russian-born Maria Pogorzhelskaya lives with her large artist family in Milan. In the family there are two even old boys, two cousins who throughout their upbringing shared everyday life and party, school and home. Maria Pogorzelskaja is the mother of one of them. We follow her painterly observations and see two children who have sunk into another world. They are here in the room, but at the same time in a completely different universe. We look at children who are relaxed resting on a sofa while their consciousness wanders among difficult mazes, solving logistical problems, creating, fighting, dying and getting new life. You are fascinated by the ability of man to move to alien worlds with the power of play or imagination.

Maria Pogorzelska is interested in the youth. Here all the forces of life, joy, stupidity and future are gathered. In the series Girls it is partytime. Laughter, mischiefes, movement and burlesque, all lit by laughter and eroticism. The brush strokes mix and go together like the bodies depicted. Naked thighs, red lips, half-closed eyes. They party in the present, without thinking of any consequences, on the world that they will wake up to tomorrow, on the hangover. The party as well as the game gives a chance to leave everyday life, to feel free and that everything is possible.

Masks is the title of the third series. Now is the time for reflection. Do you dare to think? Maybe not yet. The mask comes as a protective agent for the body and the soul. You can hide, relax, hide yesterday’s headaches and prepare for a new escape from reality. Natasha Dahnberg