Life in Space
Life in Space logically builds on the Artist’s observations of our life on Earth. She challenges us to imagine what life in the outer space would be like: how would we cope with the lack of sunlight and proper night and day patterns, what would it feel like to find ourselves deep within the vast and endless, but at the same time cold and empty cosmic expanse? Ms. Marina Fedorova ventures to suggest that people would be constantly accompanied by a sense of powerful nostalgia for their home planet, triggered even by the very thought of a potential chance to leave the Earth behind forever. Looking into the future, the Artist encourages us to hypothesise on how our life could evolve in the upcoming decades.
The Earth’s remoteness is expressed in these artworks by means of perspective: the heroines wistfully look at the tiny globe with cosmic nebulae swirling behind their backs. Here, on this new planet, both landscapes and architectural structures resemble the terrestrial ones, evoking a poignant sense of nostalgia.
One of the artworks in this series, Museum, later inspired the Space Art Odyssey virtual journey allowing the viewers to visit an imaginary art gallery in space. The painting shows an art space with panoramic windows located somewhere on the Moon surface: a character sporting bright red pumps obviously intends to visit the museum. The high but stable heels of these beautiful shoes rendered in broad brushstrokes, and the lithe legs whose owner is hidden from sight suggest a forward movement, reflecting the firmness and steadiness of intention.
The window motif appears again in At a Restaurant: here a glass separates the female protagonist from the endless cosmic space. The graceful girl in a red dress is apparently undaunted by the hugeness of the Universe. She has her back turned to us: we see neither her eyes nor any overt emotions, only a vague facial expression. She is holding a classic science fiction novel of the 20th century, Stanisław Lem’s Solaris. The heroine who remains a mystery to us is intently staring at some distant point, perhaps trying to distinguish the outlines of the erstwhile home planet and recall what life on Earth was like.
A painting conveying an extraterrestrial atmosphere through a contemporary, even slightly futuristic and concise interior pictured in it is Welcome to Café Earth. The picture shows a café somewhere far beyond the solar system which is freely accessible to any dwellers of other galaxies who wish to come and enjoy the singing of such immortal divas from planet Earth as Marilyn Monroe and Greta Garbo.
Another artwork with a slight tinge of nostalgia is called Suitcase. The lonely girl in a red cocktail dress wheeling a scarlet suitcase seems to be expecting something, perhaps ready to return to the planet of her ancestors. We see planet Earth looming in the horizon, its blue sphere looking friendly and welcoming. But is it really so? Is it actually possible to go back to Earth and inhabit it? It is rather more likely that the lonely figure is destined to be forever searching the outer space for the place where she belongs, the return to Earth remaining her impossible lifelong dream. This painting elaborates the concept of another work touched by the Artist’s trademark irony. Long before the present ‘Cosmic period’ and the creation of an entire series of artworks dedicated to space exploration, Ms. Marina Fedorova painted Lady Proton, a picture featuring a young girl being late for the launch of a rocket just like any one of us might be late for a plane or train. The spaceship takes off without her, leaving her to aimlessly wonder the Moon in hopes for a lucky hitchhike ride through the Universe.
Aleksandra Danilovskikh
Art Historian, Art Expert