Artist Statement

Daria Konchits explores the phenomenon of contact in a broad sense: as communication with other people, the external world, and herself. The artist views communication as a way to gain a deeper understanding of her own subjectivity and make sense of her experience. Contact evokes a range of conflicting feelings, including vulnerability and shame. Speaking openly about these feelings becomes an emancipatory practice for Daria: a way to examine and analyse her vulnerability, turn it into a statement, and recognise that such experiences are familiar to others as well. In this way, personal experience becomes a manifestation of the self and a foundation for communication with the viewer, while the art itself becomes part of that communication.

 

In reflecting on these experiences, Daria draws on intuitive images that evoke established cultural meanings. She expands and dissolves the boundaries of these meanings, making symbols more fluid and open to interpretation. The artist places these images in a deliberately fairy-tale-like setting, using familiar visual elements such as glitter, sparks, and glows to construct an image of the unknown and the otherworldly. In this way, she suggests that much remains mysterious and concealed even within her own sensory world.

 

The artist’s main media are painting and textile. In painting, it is important for her to convey a sense of elusiveness and evanescence, creating an in-between space that being fully fixed and understanding. Textile objects occupy physical space and can therefore be more readily integrated into everyday environments, working on a deeper, bodily level.