Ksenia Dermenzhi: In Bloom

About

The flower bloomed and faded. The sun rose and sank. The lover loved and went. And what the poets said in rhyme, the young translated into practice.
– Virginia Woolf, Orlando

The gallery has worked with Ksenia Dermenzhi for the better part of this year in preparation for her solo exhibition with the gallery, In Bloom. 

It seems appropriate that the title of Dermenzhi’s debut solo exhibition focuses on a word with such a romantic and loaded feeling. The word ‘bloom’, both a noun and a verb, suggests a grouping of flowers (n), which we see here in abundance (also one of bloom’s meanings); or to come into (one’s) fullness (v), which refers to both the paintings on display but also the process the young Moldovan artist has undergone to arrive at these exuberant, vibrant, and explosive works. On one level, these works are about flowers and colours and joy. But there is another exploratory line that we, as viewers, can almost trace seeing Dermenzhi develop into a powerful new painterly voice.