Maria Seltsova

BIO

Maria Seltsova (Ulyanovsk ,1986)

Seltsova studied painting at the Noella Roos art school on the island of Bali, Indonesia. Interested in the oriental culture, Seltsova has taken mystical and philosophical references to adapt them to her artistic creations. The artist's proposal focuses on translating the pictorial act into a process of healing and meditation. Also, taking elements of tantra and self-satisfaction, the artist seeks to question the taboos that revolve around sexual pleasure and female masturbation. Her main project entitled "Love yourself" is based on the principles of body art and action painting to combine the aforementioned statements.

For the artist to employ her own body as an artistic tool is a form of healing her past memories. Her art despite the intricate abstraction of colors is a confessional art, where the artist deposits part of her history, her body, and energy. Maria keeps doing several kinds of research towards the different artistic manifestations that involve corporeality, feminism, and forgiveness.

Exhibitions:
March 2024 - MACBA (Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art) - "Rosebud" Performance dedicated to Hedy Lammar in collaboration with Erich Weiss as a part of the programm "108 Day" by Lydia Ourahmane.

October 2021 - Artcon.pro Collective Art Show, Dario Sigismondo Art Gallery, Barcelona. Spain

March 2021 - Online Group Exhibition "Metamorphosis", Explorins App organized by Wylsum Gallery

May 2020 - Online Solo Exhibition, Viewing Room of CU46 Project

March 2020 - Group Exhibition "Sex with Russians", Chaka Khan Gastro-bar organized by Wylsum Gallery, Barcelona, Spain

March 2019 - Group Exhibition "Sex with Russians", CU46 Gallery, Barcelona, Spain

May 2018 - "Sexuality in Female Art" video art show, Soho House, Barcelona, Spain

December 2017 - International Performance Art Week, Venice, Italy

September 2017 - Group Exhibition "Cur.Ate Project Launch", The Depot, London, UK

July 2017 - Group Exhibition "Root", Estudio Nomada, Barcelona, Spain

June 2017 - Group Exhibition "Tough Body", Estudio Nomada, Barcelona, Spain

May 2017 - Video-art Festival "LOOP Bcn", Barcelona, Spain

Media:
The article written by Maria Seltsova "Sexualidad Femenina en Arte Contemporaneo" in ConCiencia Arte magazine.

Interview with Maria Seltsova as an artist and a gallerist (CU46 Project) in Atlas of the Future Magazine

The article written by Maria Seltsova "Hype as a Marketing Tool" in Russian Art Magazine "Art Muse"

Interview with Maria Seltsova as a sexual female artist from Russia in Russian magazine about culture and society "Knife media"

Photos of Maria Seltsova painted by Filippo Ioco leading the Pride in Barcelona, 2019 on Beteve and La Vanguardia Newspaper

Interview with Maria Seltsova and Vera Uvarova about "Sex with Russians" exhibition and CU46 Gallery in El Punt Avui Newspaper

Exhibition "Sex with Russians" Opening Announcement in BonArt Magazine

Interview with Maria Seltsova "After the accident: Maria Sel's transformational art" in Matrix Barcelona Magazine

Love Yourself

Love Yourself Project #1-2

Video credit: Vega Film and Alena Rubinshtein
Photo credit: Jenya Kadnikova Photography

Love Yourself Project #3
Video and photo credit: Tonya Polskaya

In the new episode of Seltsova's project "Love Yourself" she was led by the philosophy of Tao where the sexual energy supposes to be transferred into creative energy. Using self-exploration as a tool and going deeper inside her shadow Seltsova apply the power of constructive aggression to fight and then to accept her dark side. Layer by layer she removes the tension of understanding this darkness and balances herself in all forms through artistic action of self-pleasure and painting. Presence of black and white refers to symbolism of Yin and Yang which according to Tao is not only the meaning of dualism and fight of two opposite forces, but two halves that together complete wholeness. They symbolize two opposing energies, which, mutating and interacting, represent the dynamics of the world.

Performances

There are limits only in our heads

'ROSEBUD' by Erich Weiss in MACBA
in collaboration with Maria Seltsova (performance) and Klaus Neumann (soundtrack)

'ROSEBUD' is the title of a new performance by Belgian-born artist Erich Weiss.
The piece can be defined as a kind of 'multi-media collage' containing plenty of references.
refers to the famous end scene of Orson Welles' emblematic movie 'Citizen Kane', where the protagonist whispers his last word ('Rosebud') on his death bed. (We witness how a cristal ball, containing a dreamy snowlandscape falls from his hand on the floor.)The so-callled 'Rosebud'-moment' is traditionally defined as a transitory moment in human memory : it is realizing how we can only know whether
our image of the 'future' is really true when this 'future' suddenly takes place and becomes 'history' …
This scene is as enigmatic as the one we presence in Marcel Duchamp's famous and posthumous installation 'Etant donnés'. Here we witness as voyeurs through a peeping hole in a door the half naked body of a female corpse or motionless bodIt is partly hidden by the landscape, but we can witness clearly an arm reaching out holding a lamp.
The puzzling image Weiss confronts the public with in the present 'mise-en-scene' looks like an agglomeration of these two images/ideas.
This theatrical setting is completed by a soundtrack by Weiss together with his friend and collaborator Klaus Neumann, who composed a specific soundtrack for this installation. On the speakers in the room we can listen to a dramatic track, composed of technological sounds and female voices. The words we can listen to are spoken by distant women around the world and sent to the artist by all kind of technological devices. The text is a fragment of a poem of Parker Tyler dedicated to the film actress Hedy Lamarr.
Weiss discovered this text in a tribute/essay about this movie-star made by Joseph Cornell, published in 'View' in 1941 under the title 'The Enchanted Wanderer'.
In the video: clips from the film "Extase", 1933 directed by Gustav Machatý, soundtrack by Klaus Neumann
Photo and Video credit: Darina Gottmann, Heikki Erola

Venice International Performance Art Week

MariSel was honored to be a part of Venice International Performance Art Week working in the group of performance artists all over the globe leaded by tutors Andrigo&Aliprandi. She took part in Collective Performance Opera and made her solo performance "Lesson №9" during 3 days opened for public visit. The main idea of "Lesson №9" was exploring herself with the statement "The wizard lives in the state of exploring. By this exploring his perfection is determined" inspired by the book of Deepak Chopra "The Way of The Wizard" . The main topic of the collective performance opera was "Political body".

Photo credit: Lorenza Cini Photography, Aldo Aliprandi, Anna Beisuz

Contact

Maria Seltsova

Painter and Performance Artist

For the dossier of the artworks, please, contact me.
Email: maria.seltsova@gmail.com
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