Yana Payusova
Born in St. Petersburg, Russia. Received an M.F.A. from the University of Colorado at Boulder, CO, and a B.A. from Lake Forest College, Lake Forest, IL . Lives and works in Boston, MA .
Recent solo exhibitions at Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston , MA; and Mimi Ferzt Gallery, New York, NY.
Participated in group exhibitions at Exit Art, New York, NY; The Dairy Center for the Arts, Boulder, CO; The Williamsburg Art and Historical Center, Williamsburg, NY; ARTSWorcester Aurora Gallery, Worcester, MA ; and International Center of Bethlehem, Palestine.
The overlapping of myth and memory are the basis for Yana Payusova’s densely packed, semi-autobiographical paintings. They humorously depict the absurdity and frustrations of her experiences growing up in St. Petersburg , Russia in the 1980s and 1990s. Combining stories and photographs from her childhood, with tales told to her by her parents, Payusova uses a variety of techniques to suggest the way family history is distorted by time and memory. Filled with narrative scenarios, where events are presented almost like graphic novels without the text, the artist presents different incidents from her stories simultaneously, conflating both time and space. The paintings blend the styles and symbols of folk art, Russian icons, graphic poster art, illustration, and comics, and reflect Payusova’s cultural heritage and her training in traditional Russian realist painting. Her distortions of scale and anatomy (figures with no hands or six legs) are emblematic of the role different characters play in the artist’s wildly-imaginative dramas.
-Rachel Rosenfield Lafo, Director of Curatorial Affairs
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What is of particular interest to me in this body of work is the effortless way in which memory/memories become modified, altered, corrected, and transformed altogether. I find it fascinating that one can create a memory of an event not actually experienced. I find it intriguing that I have a memory of my parents’ first date because it was described to me by my mother. However, the memory shifts its shape slightly when the story is narrated by my father. When I became an adult and was more readily able to interpret the subtleties of my parents’ stories, the real (?) and far less romantic reasons for the marriage became apparent. The wedding I once visualized (and the details I vividly imagined) turned out never to have happened. But what happens to the physicality of these old memories? How is it that memory can become collectivized and commoditized? I’m interested in the glitches, the in-betweens of memories.
-Yana Payusova
Image: Yana Payusova, Because It's How It's Done, 2007, acrylic and India ink on canvas, 12’’ x 12’’ x 3’’, Collection of Karen Moss.
