Fri, Apr 11 2025
OBEY ART SPACE BERLIN
It’s been a minute since we last did an event in Berlin, so we’re extra excited for this one — our first-ever group show at OBEY ART SPACE BERLIN. We are proud to work with a diverse group of Berlin-based artists, each bringing their own unique background and motivation to create. Get to know the participating artists and take a sneak peek at their work.@nartalka@fjorsk@d.ima1994@alenka_yaryshOpening reception: Friday, April 11th, 6–10 PMOn view on weekdays until April 25th, 2–6 PMOBEY ART SPACE BERLINInselstrasse 13, 10179 BerlinNARTALKA Berlin-based, Canadian-Polish artist. Originally from Hamilton, Canada — an industrial city — Nartalka grew up in working-class communities. She witnessed her hometown's rapid gentrification firsthand. With her mother an immigrant and her father a teacher, she learned early on the necessity of empathy and the empowering nature of education. She remains deeply aware of — and psychologically affected by — how politics and infrastructure, both built and dismantled, shape communities.“Using semiotics — which hold the same power as political rhetoric — I expose major contradictions in mass media and the politics it upholds.Visible throughout my work are the physical and metaphorical chain-link fences so common in lower-class North American landscapes: meant to protect, but also to exclude.Maybe we can cut through to the other side — and maybe the question is whether the other side is even worth it.”FJORSK Fjorsk (Christian Thomsen) is a Danish artist living and working in Berlin. He studied at the Royal Academy in The Hague and has exhibited internationally in New York, Bucharest, Amsterdam, London, and Berlin.Blending childlike energy, dark humor, and symbolism, Fjorsk's work draws from folklore, fantasy, nursery rhymes, and alchemical imagery. His paintings explore the tension between concealment and revelation — whether through large-scale, blurred airbrushed works or frenetic, gestural brushstrokes. These contrasting techniques create a layered, expressive world where mythical figures and outsider characters confront chaos, existential dread, and transformation.Through distortion and movement, Fjorsk unravels personal and collective mythologies, inviting viewers to find meaning in the space between fantasy and reality.DIMA1994 Dima, born in 1994 in Siberia (Nizhnevartovsk), has called Berlin his home since early childhood. He uses his unique way of looking at the world in every aspect of his work, turning overlooked environmental elements into applications, driven by a fascination with cyclical renewal.His approach to life—finding new perspectives—has evolved into a permanent journey, constantly producing new projects.For this exhibition, Dima collaborated with Tim Sommerfeld, Tilman Haseloff, and Robert Wortmann on a special sculpture made from brass, porcelain, and plastic.“The lamp is a tribute to light. Its luminosity is transmitted into the ground—so intensely that it draws the lampshade downward.This gesture resembles a bow: a quiet sign of reverence for its own source.”ALENA YARISH Born in Crimea, Ukraine, Alena grew up immersed in the untouched beauty of nature. Deeply passionate about painting and drawing from a young age, she completed her studies at an art school in Crimea. After the occupation of the region, Alena moved to Kyiv, where she spent much of her time creating self-portraits — a way of connecting with herself during a period of loneliness and uncertainty.In search of a new beginning, she eventually relocated to Berlin.“The following three years were marked by profound pain and disorientation, as I grappled with a sense of loss and a search for identity. During this time, my work began to reflect the surreal nature of my dreams, as reality no longer offered the solace I once sought.”
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