Projects

The Ruarts Foundation presents the first solo exhibition by artist Marina Bessonova, ‘Experiencing Joy’ as a fundamental emotion built from fragility and eternity. In her project Bessonova connects the porcelain tradition of plastic thought with the language of the 21st century, reminding us that Russian culture is an inexhaustible source of meaning.

According to the artist, porcelain is an expressive substance, comparable to a brush on canvas: her technique for working with the subtle elements of this capricious material transforms chance into regularity, generating narratives spontaneously, without a strict plan. Marina sees one of the primary goals in her work as the transmission of Russian heritage, a desire to cultivate the image of the Russian folk tale as something unchanging, distinct and festive.

Rejecting polychromy, the artist makes the material itself the protagonist. Bessonova’s porcelain images – matte white, clear, and purged of excess – are not simply a reference to lubok prints, but a reinterpretation: the smoothness of the surface and the complexity of the ‘code’ found in the white-stone ornamentation of ancient cathedrals. This ascetic palette reveals the idea of celebration, decoration and feasting as timeless phenomena, existing in a space of abstraction where matter becomes a vessel for light.

The exhibition’s central image is a bird, a symbol of ‘pure form’, where Russian folk tradition merges with high art in a single archetype. This is not a firebird in a blaze of fiery plumage, but the ghost of a northern fairy tale – a splash of frozen milk, an ephemeral silhouette. Here, the fairy tale transcends the confines of folklore, acquiring the voice of contemporary sculpture, and the bird becomes eternal, relived with the joy of existence.

Marina Bessonova has created a ‘decoration’ project for the era of minimalism, where contentment is born not from an abundance of colour, but from textures and the play of light on the table, where guests are served not delicacies, but states of mind: contemplation, harmony, joy, woven from emptiness and fullness.

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Marina Bessonova (b. 1981, Saratov) is a contemporary Russian artist specialising in ceramic and biscuit porcelain art objects. Since 2020 she has been working in the field of sculptural design, collaborating with companies such as A-Club, RBK, and Yandex. Her work is inspired by the ceramics of the South of France, the legacy of Claude and François Lalanne, modernism in all its diversity, African art, the ancient traditions of Egypt, Rome and Greece, as well as the works of Dutch and Scandinavian masters and contemporary art. Bessonova focuses on pure sculptural forms, emphasising the pristine texture and colour of materials such as matte biscuit porcelain, reminiscent of unpolished marble. Over the past five years she has been developing a collection of reimagined themes and motifs from Russian folk tales.