Yevgeniya Baras's New Paintings at The Landing Blend Primitivism and Textual Elements

Yevgeniya Baras's exhibition 'Towards Something Standing Open' at The Landing in Los Angeles ran from 27 January to 10 March 2018, featuring untitled oil paintings from 2016 and 2017 on burlap or canvas with embedded materials like wood, glass, or branches. These works, typically under 60cm, display a signature style of rich and muted hues, thick lines, and ambiguous symbols. A notable shift in her recent series includes frequent quasi-Cyrillic text, contrasting with her 2016 show at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery in New York, where such lettering was rare. Baras's art evokes peasant primitivism and Russian Cubo-Futurism, echoing historical avant-garde artists like Natalia Goncharova, Mikhail Larionov, and Kazimir Malevich, who used text and folk art to challenge bourgeois naturalism in the early 20th century. Her educational background includes a BA in fine art and psychology and an MS in education from the University of Pennsylvania, an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and studies at London's Slade, suggesting a strategic approach to her seemingly sincere, rough-hewn aesthetic. The frayed burlap surfaces imply labor and wear, while diagrammatic forms resist instant recognition, aligning with a pursuit of earthy mysteries rather than utopian radicalism. This review appeared in the April 2018 issue of ArtReview.