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For the Russian-born, U.S.-based video artist and draftswoman Masha Sha (Chukotka/Siberia 1982), the delicacy and vulnerability of transparent paper is what makes drawing so appealing: Using all her physical strength, she works the paper restlessly with sharp strokes and blows, accepting cracks and scratches. She sees these injuries to the surface as part of the work; they foreshadow the mental process of creation and allow a glimpse into the soul of the work of art. The lines run pulsating, again and again faltering and hesitating - Sha herself speaks of the "quality of the line". Only on closer inspection do bodies emerge from the abstract mesh, sometimes alone, sometimes in pairs, with intertwined limbs and abandoning anatomical precision. In the body fragments drawn by Sha, the dark abyss of human emotion, compulsion, brokenness, wounding, emerges. In more recent works, Masha Sha explores the meaning and power of words. Irritating wordplay emerges in large-scale pencil and colored pencil drawings, evoking a multitude of associations and provoking thought. In 2014, Masha Sha received a recognition award from the STRABAG Artaward International.
www.mashasha.org
