Contemporary abstract artist Tamara Savchenko explores work from her ballet dancer series in this new exhibition 'Work Breathe Relax'.
“Ballet dancers are admired for the beauty of their movement and their physical beauty. When this is combined with beautiful music a unique magical world is created, a world we fall in love with when we are just little girls wanting to be as beautiful as ballerinas.”
“I was one of those girls and although I never became a ballerina, I have loved dancing all my life and still go to a dance class from time to time. My deeper understanding of the ballet came later when my husband and I whilst travelling met a principal ballerina from Kirgizstan, Aisulu Tokombaeva. I saw her stretching every day, I saw her tormented feet and I learnt that she needs physio regularly because she is frequently in pain. Once she danced just for two of us the whole act of Giselle explaining what was represented in each movement. Since then I have admired ballet dancers not only for their beauty but for the strength, hard work and the pain they endure for the creative process.”
Contemporary abstract artist Tamara Savchenko explores work from her ballet dancer series in this new exhibition ‘Work Breathe Relax’. Exploring behind the scenes of ballet she captures moments of practicing, resting, and stretching, of determination, tired bodies and minutes of quiet repose. Her geometric style expressed primarily through forms of triangles, creates a tension reminiscent of that of the body during practice, the sharp lines and angles at once harsh and fragile. The overall effect is to exaggerate the pain often experienced by the subjects of her work whilst at the same time heightening the delicacy and precision of the artform. Colours are selected in part for their relevance to modern ballet but also to enhance a sculptural effect. As in classic sculptures, where every part of the body is in just right place, in balance and proportion, so in ballet the dancers create momentous transient sculptures which last just a few seconds.
