Artist Yulia Pinkusevich Explores the Psychology of Space
On February 7th 2020, Gray Area will open the doors for our first large-scale immersive exhibition entitled, The End Of You, inviting visitors to explore multi-sensory installations that encourage new ways of perceiving the self within the living world. Throughout this fall, artists participating in the Experiential Space Research Lab have been reimagining ways to radically shift perspective through the power of immersive art.
Artist Yulia Pinkusevich brings her training in cross-disciplinary media art to the Research Lab. Within her practice, she creates large-scale installations around ecology and environmental awareness, which serve as principal anchors in her creative explorations. Her artworks are designed with attention to how the viewer engages with the piece, further considering the relationship between the viewer and the environment throughout her work. We spoke with the artist to learn more about how her practice informs her work in the upcoming exhibition, The End Of You.
Describe your background and some of the themes behind your work.
I am a visual artist of Russian Ukrainian origins. I immigrated to New York as a child, and spent most of my adult life between New York, New Jersey, New Mexico and California.
My work explores the psychology of space and our relationship to our environment.
What led you to Gray Area’s Experiential Space Research Lab?
The Gray Area open call seemed perfectly aligned because of my interest in immersive installations and themes of ecology and environmental awareness. It seems like a natural fit, and I am really honored to be part of the team.
I’ve done a number of immersive installations often with found or unconventional materials. One example is my recent installation called Buddha Brow which installed 108 found oak calls suspended in a 500-year-old Oak tree in the shape of two arches. I also built a wall out of 1,600 lbs of salt, a tower out of 2000 books, and now I’m working with tree roots.
How do you consider your audience throughout the creative process?
I recently heard somebody say: “Making art is like throwing a pass somebody has to be on the other end to catch it.” For me, the audience is extremely important in the dialog I am having through my work.
I hope people gain a sense of awe and wonder through interacting with my work. I hope it provides a space for contemplation and questioning, for slowing down and looking, and continues to provoke feelings and emotions long after the encounter.
Aside from large scale drawings and sculptural pieces, your practice also includes site specific projects like “Reversion” and “Wall of Salt”. What is the role of site in your work? How does the space or the physical boundaries you install your work within influence your design process?
My body of work thinks about the structures that surround us really define and influence our actions and thoughts. My work explores how the built environment is a physical map of the human psyche. My drawings focus on the psychology of space.
Drawing has led me to consider surface, and architecture is just another surface. As my work evolved, I began to be interested in art as an experience. Because I am interested in site-specific installations, for me, site deeply informs how these installations will form. My work considers and engages with the site and architecture by reacting to or integrating with site. Formally, my work engages with the direct experience of the viewer through perspective, illusion, and spatial perceptions that plays with your understanding of space.
What physical and non-physical materials are you interested in exploring during the Research Lab?
The material I’m most interested in engaging with is your mind, beyond that each project and concept leads me to use certain material in conceptual ways. I’m also conscious of the ecological footprint art can create and strive to use things that are unique, intriguing and sustainable.
For Gray Area I’m currently exploring working with roots. I’ve been working with natural materials and specifically a tree stump, which you will be able to enter and immerse yourself inside of. Ultimately, this project seeks to deepen our relationships and collaborations with the many non-human entities with whom we humans share our planetary home.
Yulia Pinkusevich is a visual artist and educator whose expansive set of tools includes charcoal, ink, salt, concrete, polypropylene, metal, wood, and even light and shadow. Having completed residencies at institutions such as Autodesk Pier 9, Facebook HQ, and Recology, she creates provocative works at large scales that explore the psychology of space.
The immersive art experience The End Of You opens February 2020.
Limited number of time slots are available for the Opening Weekend.
Reserve your tickets at EndOfYou.io.
The End Of You is the culmination of a year-long collaboration between Gray Area and Gaian Systems, with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, to explore the potential of immersive art for social impact through the Experiential Space Research Lab. The open call for participation, Reworlding: The Art of Living Systems, invited artists to propose novel experiences to cultivate planetary thinking.
The Experiential Space Research Lab is an initiative by Gray Area studying how artists can work with immersive environments as critical thinking tools. The Research Lab supports a diverse team of artists exploring the potential of immersive art as sustainable creative practice, and as a tool for engaging with our world. Through research, field surveys, prototyping, and the production of new works, the Experiential Space Research Lab will ultimately develop a playbook for artists interested in creating immersive digital art experiences.
This interview was conducted by Miriam Abraham, Gray Area’s Creative Development Intern. Portrait of Yulia Pinkusevich by Hannah Scott.
