In the series “New World”, Natalia Menyakina creates an inversion of Eden. Her garden — dazzlingly bright, captivating and beautiful — exists according to the laws of desire and survival. Here, fruit-images are sweet but far from harmless: they reveal themselves to the gaze of the Other in order to establish control, drawing the viewer into a circuit of consumption through the enjoyment of their own reflection.
The characters of the paintings are ambiguous — they can bring both blessing and ruin. The artist turns to feminine archetypes, depicting beautiful, strong women who know their own worth. The outer space of the works is maximally plastic, fluid and all-consuming, so the motif of frames and cages appears as places of safety and protection. “New World” becomes a metaphor for the life of human desire, and the kaleidoscopic paintings of chaotically shifting images remain open to the viewer’s gaze, reflecting hidden fantasies and drives and turning the canvas into a site of reflection and self-observation.