Maria Koshenkova (Russian-Danish, b. 1981) produces amorphous glass and steel sculptures which address the human condition and the fragility of the body through notions of corporeality, tenderness, and care. Working within an aesthetics of science fiction and futurism, her works are built less as fully-formed figures in the traditional of portraiture than as an inventory of abstract and often damaged parts. Melted and seemingly vulnerable organic shapes refer piecemeal to the body’s breakdown and its interior spaces, conjuring images of the heart, liver, stomach, or intestines. These glass forms are paired with the industrial mechanisms of support manufactured for healthcare and domestic use. Steel armatures resembling wheelchairs, walkers, and assorted hospital equipment cradle the adhered piles of blown and hand-formed glass. The fusing of the two materials through heat and a shared color palette results in sculptures which are strikingly human yet enigmatic.
Koshenkova received degrees from the Saint Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design, Kalmar University, and the Royal Danish Academy. In 2022, she participated in the Danish Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale alongside Uffe Isolotto. Koshenkova has been awarded the Jutta Cuny-Franz Foundation Talent Award, the Hempels Glass Prize, and the Hejian Craft Glass Design Innovation Competition’s Award for Excellence. Her sculptures are in the collections of the Toyama Glass Art Museum, the Perm Foundation, and the Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, among others.
Contemporary works by five of today’s most distinguished Scandinavian glass artists are beautifully arrayed at HB381 for the Manhattan gallery’s annual Summer Group Show. Spotlighting Stine Bidstrup, Lene Bødker, Frida Fjellman, Hanna Hansdotter, and Maria Koshenkova through August 16, the exhibition is brimming with dazzling confections that represent an array of techniques including casting, mouth-blowing, sand-blasting, and mirroring. Each of the five women produce works of differing forms and functions, with some favoring hard-edge crystalline shapes and others going a more Baroque, organic route—but they are all united by their desire to push the bounds of what is possible through the famously finicky medium.
MARIA KOSHENKOVA
b. 1981, St. Petersburg, Russia
EDUCATION
2006
Glass & Ceramics Department, The Royal Danish Academy, Copenhagen, Denmark
2004
Glass Design Program, Kalmar University, Kalmar, Sweden
2004
MFA, Saint Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design, Saint Petersburg, Russia
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
When You Lose Control, Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, Ebeltoft Denmark (Upcoming)
I Am Sorry, This Space Is Reserved, Nikolaj Kunsthal, Copenhagen, Denmark (Upcoming)
Carte Verte, Thottske Palæ, Copenhagen, Denmark (Upcoming)
Generation Why, Rundetårn, Copenhagen, Denmark and Rian Design Museum, Falkenberg, Sweden
2023
Foyer, The Danish Art Workshops, Copenhagen, Denmark
Drive Me Inside, Davis Gallery. Copenhagen, Denmark
2021
Bodegones, Marina Gisich Gallery, St. Petersburg, Russia
2019
Maria Koshenkova and Noriyuki, Clara Scremini Gallery, Paris, France
2018
Restrain & Release, Glass Museum Ebeltoft, Ebeltoft, Denmark
Restrain & Release, Art & Minde Center, Nagoya, Japan
2017
Aasiaat Museum, Aasiaat, Greenland
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
Summer Group Show, HB381, New York, NY, USA
2024
BLOKO-748, Venice, Italy (Upcoming)
Flesh on Flesh, Galleri Maria Friis, Copenhagen, Denmark
2023
The Biennale for Craft & Design, Copenhagen Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark
We Walked the Earth: Harnessing, Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, Denmark
Modern Glass from Denmark, European Museum of Modern Glass, Rödental, Germany
Generation Why, Risør Kunstpark, Risør, Norway
2022
We Walked the Earth, Danish Pavilion, The 59th International Venice Biennale, Venice Italy
New Positions, Simone DeSousa Gallery, Detroit, MI, USA
The Coburg Prize for Contemporary Glass, European Museum of Modern Glass, Rödental, Germany
The Italian Glass Week, Palazzo Loredan, Venice, Italy
2021
States of Glass, North Norwegian Art Center, Solvær, Lofoten, Norway
European Glass Context, Bornholm Art Museum, Bornholm, Denmark
2020
Forårsudstilling/The Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Charlottenborg, Denmark
2019
Kogei as Contemporary Craft: Transcending Boundaries, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan
Le Verre en Mouvement, MusVerre, Sars-Poteries, France
Crafted Matters, Danish Art Foundation for the Cheoungju Craft Biennale, Cheoungju, South Korea
2018
Toyama International Glass Exhibition, Toyama Glass Art Museum, Toyoma, Japan
Mindcraft 18, Danish Art Foundation for the Milan Design Week, Milan, Italy
The Eighth International Exhibition of Traditional Fine Arts, Shanghai Art Collection Museum, Shanghai, China
A Celebration of Life Through Light, Martin Asbæk Gallery, Ruinart Stuios, Copenhagen, Denmark
2017
The International Exhibition of Glass Kanazawa, Notojima Glass Art Museum, Ishikawa, Japan
2016
Glasur, Hempel Glasmuseum, Nykøbing Sjælland, Denmark
2015
DG15: Forty Years of Contemporary Glass in Denmark, Ebeltoft Glass Museum, Ebeltoft, Denmark
2014
Lenin: Icebreaker, Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz, Austria
GRANTS & AWARDS
2020
The 5th China Hejian Craft Glass Design Innovation Competition, Award for Excellence, Hejian, China
2016
Hempels Glass Prize, Hempels Kulturfond, Hempel, Denmark
2015
Ole Haslunds Scholarship, Denmark
2013
Jutta Cuny-Franz Foundation Talent Award, Düsseldorf, Germany
COLLECTIONS
Danish Arts Foundation, Denmark
European Museum of Modern Glass, Germany
Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, Denmark
Hempel Glass Museum, Denmark
MUDAC Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts, Switzerland
Museum of American Glass, Millville, NJ, USA
Ny Carlsberg Foundation, Denmark
Perm Foundation, Perm, Russia
Shanghai Art Collection Museum, China
Toyama Glass Art Museum, Japan
