Masha Rudenko

Lives and works in New York, NY, USA

Artist statement

I view my body as a canvas, a place to portray the experiences and challenges I've experienced in my life. I grew up in a small town in the former Soviet Union and was isolated from most of the world during my youth. At the age of 17, when Perestroika occurred, I was recruited as a model and immediately began traveling the world. I was overwhelmed by what I saw and experienced for the first time; the museums, the music, film, fame, politics, violence and love. I was inspired in so many ways. My project's called “MASHPIT.” It was born from my cultural awakening. The characters I play each represent a unique cultural aspect that opened within me. Some of my portrayals are personal friends, others are representational of an ideal or concept that affected me, the triggers into the multi-layered subjects and emotions I was suddenly exposed to. In MASHPIT, I invite the viewer to experience not only the image itself, but to understand my transformation into that personality and consider how we are products of what we learn and experience. MASHPIT, like the world, is a place full of contradictions, of black and white, good and evil, a place that I invite you to consider and explore.

Artwork