DARIA BALOVA
Resident of CUTOUT COLLAGE ART PROJECT: March 2024 - Today
Born in 1979 in Horlivka, Ukraine. Graduated from the Donetsk Technical University as a master of computer science in 2001 and then moved to Kyiv, where she started to work in game development and web design.
During 2007 - 2013 studied art and calligraphy and was mostly engaged in digital collages. Performed several solo shows in Kyiv.
In 2008, together with her husband, they started their own design studio in Donetsk.
In 2013 - 2015 completed several courses at the V.Maruschenko School of Photography, which were aimed at creating conceptual projects. This time coincided with the beginning of difficult historical changes in Ukraine, which Daria, as the one originating from Donbass, experienced personally. The studio in Donetsk had to be closed. In Kyiv, Daria created several art projects
dedicated to the russia's aggression, which took part in several group exhibitions in Ukraine and abroad.
Since 2022, temporarily lives in Barcelona. Started practicing abstract art and collages and became a resident of CUTOUT festival.
EXHIBITIONS
2024
- “For the Sake of the Letter”, an exhibition dedicated to the rights of Ukrainian prisoners of war, organized by the community My Ministry of Culture under the patronage of CUTOUT, Le Bonheur est Dans L'instant gallery, Paris, France.
- “Looking into Ourselves”, a collective exhibition of CUTOUT residents as part of the KAOS collage festival, Kranj, Slovenia.
- "Looking into Ourselves", a collective exhibition of CUTOUT residents, CUTOUT COLLAGE STUDIO, Kyiv, Ukraine
2023
- Collective project Mykolaiv ArtWeek MEMORY, "100 Coal Black Days", Mykolaiv, Ukraine
2021
- Collective exhibition, project "Deep Houses", RA Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
2017
- Collective exhibition, project "Lines-UA", Akt art-space, Kyiv, Ukraine
- Collective exhibition of the project "Chrysalis Effect", Ukrainian Cultural Center, Paris, France
2016
- The main exposition of the festival Odesa-Batumi Photo Days, project "Donbass Roots", Odesa, Ukraine
2014
- Collective exhibition, "Donbass Roots" project, Soviart Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
2013
- "White Silence", solo exhibition, Minus4 Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
- "Nuclear Reaction" project, together with Iryna Ozarynska, Art-Donbass exhibition space, Donetsk, Ukraine
2010
- "Photogallucinations", Personal exhibition, RC Ultramarine, Kyiv, Ukraine
ARTWORKS
I make paintings and collages that are close to abstract.
I want to put as little specificity as possible in my work, only minimal information to evoke an association in the viewer similar to my own. Sometimes a hint of color or texture is enough.
I combine different materials at the same time: acrylic, ink, markers, pastels, glue in painted paper or abstract fragments of photographs from magazines. I am very attracted to anything that gives the effect of randomness: how the edge of the paper will be torn off, how the paint will flow - it's like having a pocket randomness generator, by nature the same as large, fascinating generators like sea waves, flames or clouds.