Art Maison

At the end of April 2022, the Moscow gallery “Art Maison” hosted a personal exhibition of collectible dolls by the artist Katerina Edelman. The spring collection «Tales of Flowers and Characters» was dedicated to the diversity of female archetypes and destinies.
— Katerina, what was the main idea and intent of this collection?- It was not enough for me to create a flower doll, the main task that faced me was how to convey the history of a particular flower, its life or even fate through artistic techniques. I didn’t want to work with hackneyed and beloved flower options, so An Anemone was born-the first doll in the collection, the creation of which was inspired by the story of a Chinese courtesan. I decided to create the second doll dark-skinned, inspired by the movie «12 years of slavery». The flower that I associate with resilience and great inner strength is the Mallow. So she was born-a costumed girl, forced to sit on a chain and entertain a wealthy audience, smiling no matter what.- Tell us, what difficulties did you face while creating these images?- Since I do not create my dolls out of my head, this greatly simplifies the task. Just don’t fall out of the creative flow in the process. Difficulties may be of a technical nature, how to bring your brilliant ideas to life and sell them a form so that expectation and reality at least coincide. The most difficult thing was to create Ophelia-a girl who lies in a 70-centimeter bath filled with flowers and water. I was inspired to create this doll by Millet’s painting, which is based on the plot from Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. With this doll, I got stuck in the technical part, but it was a bold experiment, for which I am very grateful to myself. As a result, my Ophelia is not just a doll, but a whole Art object. That’s what modern art is for me. — Who is your favorite in the collection?)- It’s hard to say, there is a piece of me in each of them. Probably, this is the 4th doll that was born in such a short time that I was surprised myself.  I was inspired by a little scary and strange flower called Dionea, which catches insects in its bowls and feeds on them. So she was born, an angel with a demonic essence, a very deep work, not just an interior doll. It evokes the whole spectrum of emotions, absolutely polar, but that’s the point -to awaken new feelings in people. It’s probably at the mission level.- Tell us about your future creative plans?- Now I’m going to Sochi for a puppet festival. My Dionea will be depicted on posters. Next, Dubai is waiting for me and my dolls, and an exhibition in Paris is planned. I will add a few more dolls to the flower collection and present it in winter in Gostiny Dvor at the exhibition «The Art of Dolls».