‘Two artists — two visions,” an exhibit featuring abstract imaginative art by Vera Pomerantseva of West Windsor and Tatiana Sougakova of Plainsboro, is on display at Triumph Brewery in Princeton through August 25. The artists met at Plainsboro Art Group and have both exhibited at various venues, but this is their first joint show.
When they met they discovered some similarities in their art and their past. Both come from Russia — Sougakova is from Saint Petersburg, and Pomerantseva is from Moscow. Both paint abstract works in vivid colors. Sougakova draws inspiration from outside, while Pomerantseva’s comes from within.
Inspiration and final result may be quite different, but both make abstract art that opens the conversation and interaction with the viewer. Both artists believe that a viewer’s interpretation is almost as important as making the art itself.
Pomerantseva’s paintings often have human figures or faces with links to the subconscious world, destiny, choices, struggles, and forces that guide humans in life. “My works are about expressing feelings and triggering emotional interaction,” says Pomerantseva. “Sometimes they are provocative but never inappropriate. For me each piece is a message or view that I am sharing.” Each painting either tells a story or makes a philosophical statement.
“As most artists I feel that the most accurate reflection of my artistic statement lies in the images,” says Pomerantseva.
Sougakova lived in Russia through young adulthood. In 1984 she graduated from Restoration Arts College in St. Petersburg with a degree in painted surface restoration. During that time she completed many community projects, including murals for a college residence hall and a community college lobby in St. Petersburg, a stained glass piece for staircase windows in a community college, and the execution of stained glass imitation design for a cafe in St. Petersburg. She also interned at State Hermitage in St. Petersburg.
She then worked as a community center artist for two years during which she developed drafts for center decorating and created advertisements for upcoming films and announcement posters. She furthered her education with a concentration in languages, and earned a degree in linguistics with a minor in the Czech language at the University of St. Petersburg.
In 1991 she and her husband moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where she became language services director for the U.S. branch of a Finnish company. In 2000 Sougakova and her family moved to Plainsboro, where she began to paint again, focusing on acrylic on canvas. Her art is decorative — it is meant to be enjoyed in the owner’s personal space — but it is also woven with many layers of contemplation and analogies by the artist.
Sougakova has participated in Plainsboro Library’s summer arts programs and fall Festival of the Arts. She has also contributed art to the Millstone River School and volunteered her time at the West Windsor Arts Council and the Mercer College art gallery. She also had a solo show at Plainsboro Library (The News, January 6, 2012).
Almost all of Sougakova’s paintings are created with potential physical interaction in mind. Her paintings are flippables, designed to be displayed any side up, and have four wires on the back for any chosen orientation.
“I do not paint images — I paint energy,” says Sougakova. “Colors and patterns are my ways of preserving the energy I sense while painting and of transmitting it through art to viewers.” Her art features lines, colors, images, and patterns that vaguely reference familiar imagery.
“I often paint while listening to classical music, so the brushstrokes assume the rhythm and flow of the music, they happen fast and very naturally” says Sougakova. “I almost never know what I am going to paint when I am in front of a blank canvas. The process is a bit magical — like a discovery or an exploration.”
‘Two Artists, Two Visions,’ Triumph Brewing Company, 138 Nassau Street, Princeton. On view to August 25. 609-924-7855 or www.triumphbrew.com.
