Masha Trebukova Dutch/Russian, b. 1962

At first glance the paintings of Masha Trebukova (*1962) appear to be purely abstract - colourful forms of various shades and shapes on canvas. They smoothly flow into each other or collide in sharp counteraction, whirling around and collapsing at their climax. As if some cosmic powers were struggling on the painted surface, but yet some familiar reality does transpire from this non-figurative battle. The colour blue - at the top or at the bottom of the painting - can suddenly turn into a pool of enticing water or of endless skies, vibrating silver-pink openings become atmospheric matter pierced by light. Sometimes these forms acquire a three-dimensional quality of a lump of rock (whereas in the earlier works they were reminiscent rather of landscapes), increasing the effect of depth. In this way masters like Willem de Kooning and Nicolas de Stael worked on the borderline of abstraction and reality in the middle of last century..

She finds her own solutions to the eternal problem of painting - the relationship between flatness and depth. New materials are added to the traditional technique of oil painting. Pieces of dyed gauze, rough jute, leather or transparent interfacing fabric when applied to canvas bring new possibilities for resolving this age old problem. A lower layer of colour shines through painted gauze and creates a feeling of depth, but perpendicular brush strokes, much like Cezanne's, bring remote images back to the foreground flatness of the canvas, surface breaks into endless space, and abstraction "becomes" reality..

The same idea lies at the basis of her printmaking. She prepares cardboard sheets with glue and sand and uses these forms for printing monotypes, sometimes arranging several parts together and creating polypthychs, at times 2 x 3 meters large. On paper as well as on canvas Masha confronts in the first place purely artistic problems: colour balance, the relationship between form and structure, tension and attraction of elements. But a certain reality appears by itself, breaking through the rational calculations, oozing out from sub- consciousness, coming from the deep natural bond of the artist with the real world. Such a combination of the rational and the spontaneous is not easily achieved, it is the result of mature masterly work..

(from: Abstraction and reality of Masha Trebukova, by Igor Golomstock)