Garden and Archive: Where Memory Meets Materiality
When Fruits Become Archives: A Dialogue Between Two Artists
On Tuesday, September 16th at 4:00 PM, the Masterworks Gallery warmly invites you to the stunning exhibition "Garden and Archive," showcasing works by Ilya Gaponov and Ekaterina Andriyanova. This unique event, part of our Art & Wine series, promises an evening where contemporary art meets sensory experience.
Art & Wine Exhibition at the Masterworks.hu Gallery
The Poetry of Decay and Preservation
Ilya Gaponov's paintings capture gardens where abundance and decay are inseparable. His fruits grow heavily on the branches, light dissolves in their skins, creating what he describes as "meditative contemplation, dissolution in the image's object, like the flickering of grass before the eyes." In his "Weeds" series, wild plants that often evoke negative feelings become objects of wonder and contemplation. As Gaponov observes on his journeys from the Pskov region to the Adriatic coast, the same vegetation accompanies us over thousands of kilometers—yet we rarely stop to truly see.
Her "Expulsion from Paradise" series features quinces and persimmons caught between ripeness and decay, their branches breaking under the weight of time while their fruits glow on the edge of disappearance. These are not just still lifes; they are philosophical inquiries into what remains and what passes away.
From the Garden to the Archive
Ekaterina Andriyanova takes these same fruits and transforms them into artworks—playthings, symbols, fragments of eternity. Her "Responsible Storage" series stems from deep personal history. About a month before the New Year holidays, the feeling of the upcoming miracle arrives. Boxes filled with magical glass shards take us back to childhood, where these museum-like family treasures stirred memories once a year.
Andriyanova's catalogued approach becomes an artistic method. Drawing from the Khrushchev thaw of the 1950s, when propaganda decorations on New Year's trees were replaced with peaceful themes—especially agricultural motifs—she preserves cucumbers in their various forms. Freshly picked from the garden or stored as preserves for half a year, each awaits its place on the festive table. Here life is recorded, stopped, transformed into a catalog of forms that remain when the flesh itself has disappeared.
Breathing Archive
Together, these artists create a dialogue that sounds like the breath of a garden becoming an archive. Like a moment that lingered longer than it should have. Like the memory of a fruit still glowing in the void. Their collaboration speaks to our contemporary moment—where we increasingly strive to preserve, document, and archive while experiencing constant change and transformation.
Event Details
Date: September 16, 2025, Tuesday
Time: 16:00 - Guest reception and exhibition opening
Location: Masterworks.hu Gallery
Radnóti Miklós u. 23, 1137 Budapest
Special Wine Presentation: In partnership with Első Szóláti Borház, showcasing their EGERSOUL wine collection
Join us for an evening where art and wine create the perfect atmosphere for contemplation and conversation. Meet the artists, discover their unique perspectives on memory and materiality, and experience how a garden can become an archive of human experience.
