Victoria Lomasko

“Whenever I return to Russia, I feel myself slowly sinking back to the bottom, like a creature who'd come out onto dry land, but was nonetheless born to live underwater. It seems as though Moscow, with poplars like kelp, lies hidden beneath thick layers of steely water: you must overcome its resistance with every step.
On the other hand, in the underwater world, you can bury yourself in the silt and become one of the many other inconspicuous fish. There's nobody to compete with and nothing to compete for, nowhere to shine, no major commercial temptations, while the chaotic life all around provides many subjects for drawing.
From time to time, daring new creatures are born in the underground worlds in order to climb out onto the land with their fin-legs and join the ranks of the gutted dummies -- international artists who stand in the gleaming vitrines of the world.”
- Victoria Lomasko

Under Water is a study for a monumental mural that Victoria painted at the Kunsthalle Vienna. She conceived of the composition following her first significant trips to the US to tour her infamous Other Russias book. In the composition, the underwater realm depicts life in Russia and Eastern Europe by comparison with the uncensored, capitalist freedoms defining life in the west (depicted in skyscrapers, champagne glasses, and even Damien Hirst's shark...). The initial metaphor is more complex than it first seems, as despite the struggles of life underwater, Victoria represents it as an unlikely space in which avant-garde, radical artistic conversations flourish against all odds - the lower left area of the work depicts a famous Russian rapper, Malevich's Black Square and a representative of her generation's protest movement.