About the exhibition
Ten nature scenes in different formats, from 10×15 photographs to expanded panoramas, are made in different techniques, from painting to embroidery, and represent a mosaic image of reality that never coincides with the reality of nature. After all, the scenes that the artist depicts are rather impressions, memories and romantic images of real places from which we have long been separated and which we capture like flashes before leaving a place for a long time or forever.
These imaginary landscapes, according to the artist, become a hidden source of vitality, a kind of paradise that we always strive for. Prokofiev’s paradise is familiar to many of us: the river, the mountains, the fields, the meadows. But how much individuality is there in this utopia? After all, any other features of any other place could be in their place.
Nature in culture is the subject of romanticization, a way to comprehend Zen and get into the essence of things. At the same time, in artistic optics, the pathos of landscape meets a naive, childish interpretation and is superimposed on the logic of the adult world, schemes and topography.
The exhibition will feature multi—format works combined with a special palette inspired by the «golden hour» — the time of day when everything seems unrealistic, and seasoned with acidic shades, referring to children’s visual, like in a plastic toy store. In all the works, the architectural background of the artist can be traced — this can be seen in the pencil contours emerging through the paint, and in the frontal angles and the language of dotted lines and topographic markings covering the landscape on top of its picturesque base.
At the opening of the exhibition, there will be a talk by Prokofieva and a short lecture on the Russian landscape and the two extremes of its perception — harmony and admiration.
After looking at a number of important authors for Russian art, the artist and I will try to answer the question: are we ready to accept the world as it is, or will we always idealize it?
About the author
Natasha Prokofieva (Novokuibyshevsk-Samara) is an artist and architect.
He works in mixed media, often combining acrylics, graphics, collage, embroidery and textile elements on one canvas. He is interested in the process of appropriating urban and natural landscapes, creating his own myths and parallel reality.
She is a graduate of the Quadro School of Abstract Painting (2022) and the ceramics workshop of Dina Terentyeva at the Victoria Gallery (2024). In 2025, together with Lisa Kurtova, she organized the Samara Armpits project, dedicated to non-traditional open-air spaces in urban locations and experiments with different mediums.
About Skuratov
In memory of the fact that there was once a Formogram gallery in this room at 80 Molodogvardeiskaya Street, the Skuratov coffee house and the Victoria Gallery decided to combine excellent invigorating drinks and works by the most interesting Samara authors. Since 2023, the curators of the Victoria Gallery have been showing personal exhibitions of local artists in the coffee shop space.
price
Admission is free