The Triangle Gallery is pleased to present the group exhibition "Morphology of the Spirit." It will feature works by Nikolay Koshelev, Alexander Pogorzhelsky, the artistic duo Dmitry Okruzhnov and Maria Sharova, as well as two Chinese artists Yirui Fang and Jingge Dong.
Opening reception January, 20 at 19:00. Through February 27, 2026.

Multicolored blurs of paint softly merge into a rhythmic composition. After a few moments, the silhouettes of objects become discernible, the nature of their relationships emerges. Thus, figurative and abstract art mix on a surface of canvas. The blurring of boundaries between these movements and their mutual transformation is one of the notable trends in contemporary art nowadays.

Many artists are now turning to abstraction, transforming the material world, but the art history of 20th century knows various examples of abstract movements that repeatedly become vehicles for dissolving reality. In the era of photography, cinema, and then digital art, pure abstraction became the artist's minimalist language. It allows them to fully convey reality through non-painterly methods in order to return to the source of the artistic process - the creation of an image fundamentally distinct from its surroundings. Today, largely thanks to the accumulated visual experience of the past, artists are once again exploring the relationship between abstraction and materiality in a similar way. They create images from elements of two opposite beginnings that live on the boarders of worlds.
However, each artist finds his own proportion of pictorial synthesis between object and sensation, deconstructing and simultaneously recreating the world.

Nikolay Koshelev's works (b. 1987 in Moscow, lives and works between Moscow and Paris), presented for the first time at the Triangle Gallery, explore the boundaries of pure painterly expression.The eternally fluid images are created from shimmering fairytale figures. Inspired by the symbolist aesthetics of the Silver Age and Nouveau Réalisme, the artist constructs whimsical worlds that seem to emerge from a twilight dream. Gazing at indigo-hued shadows, one can discern a nod to the monochrome blue silhouettes of Yves Klein; fantasy creatures, seemingly woven from iridescent pearl, also recall the brushwork of Vrubel.

Alexander Pogorzhelsky (b. 1980 in Moscow, lives and works between Moscow and Milan), also participating in the Triangle Gallery exhibition for the first time, captures the visual impression of the objects that surround the artist in a new series of works. "It's very important for me to quickly capture and convey the immediacy of my contact with an object." A sketchy, transparent, and light manner becomes the main creative principle, allowing the artist to capture the "character of things" and their lives as metamorphoses. The associative perception of the compositions seems to reproduce the workings of memory, that uncovers the interweaving of essences in the hazy outlines.
The ancient artifacts, archaeological, and ethnographic sites encountered by the artist become layers of history and stories living on the surface of the canvases - in a timeless space that unites the patterns of Russian spinning wheels, Sumerian reliefs, and ancient Egyptian amulets. The artist fleetingly "catches" the images, that exist in their own world and "travel" from painting to painting, as if "wandering," changing, unraveling, and living.

Jingge Dong (b. 1989 in Beijing, lives and works between Beijing, China and Venice, Italy) also depicts a world existing in a state of eternal transformation. The artist's research, in his own words, is "blending the essence of Chinese cultural symbols with Western painting techniques. In doing so, I strive to strike a "right" balance between the two worlds in my work, much like my own journey to find my cultural identity within a diverse and dynamic environment. I remain deeply committed to exploring the interplay between Oriental and Western traditions, as well as the relationship between the figurative and the abstract. I strive to challenge the notions of cultural identity and encourage a dialogue that transcends the boundaries of geography, time, and tradition". Instances of objects gently reassemble on the surface of the canvas, shaping the process of the endless transformation. The contours of matter turn into swirling energy. Time itself in the artist's works exists in abstract flow that becomes the natural state of being of pictorial art.

Abstraction often explors the nature of metaphysical quantities and becomes the artist's way of responding to time and space. The duo of Dmitry Okruzhnov (b. 1984 in Russia, lives and works in New York) and Maria Sharova (b. 1987 in Russia, lives and works in New York) are also looking into this topic, presenting the "geopolitical abstraction" canvases for the first time at the Triangle Gallery. The urban reality that daily surrounds people disintegrates into fragments, turning into a pixelated mosaic. In this way, the artists define the fundamental coordinates of the universe, the space and time in which people exist and to which they respond through creation: "state is more important than a specific place, and time is nonlinear and multilayered." The architectural structures of the artists' pictorial collages appear as "ruins" - time dissolves space, and abstraction blurs the boundaries of the material world.

The paintings of Yirui Fang (b.1997 in China, lives and works in Venice, Italy) exist in a metaphorical reality. At first glance, it seems completely removed from figurative art and "earthly" systems. However, one recognizes the elements of hieroglyphs in the colorful curves on the surface of the canvas. The tradition of Eastern painterly quality reveals itself behind the Western abstractionism. Moving lines merge with one another and compose a cipher-like ornament hidden in the sign as the most concentrated and symbolic visual form. "The creative process begins with abstract philosophical concepts... Painting becomes my method of continuous exploration and movement as an expansion of knowledge."Objects and the words with which a person gives them names return to the state of primary matter. A fragile thought is created directly on the surface of the canvas. Without being fixed, it remains alive, existing beyond time.

Turning to abstract elements in the context of figurative art becomes a way of influencing the reality that might be too rapid or, on the contrary, defined and unchanging. By exploring the boundaries of contemplation and decaying of the material base, artists form their own "superreality."