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Gleb(s) Maiboroda (1994) is a multidisciplinary artist. He paints, creates performances, photographs and produces installations. At the core of his practice, however, lies his experience with weaving. This experience embodies connection – with one another, as well as with material, body and tradition. In a world that risks collapsing under the weight of overproduction and consumption, Maiboroda turns his attention to what already exists. He draws on traditional crafts and techniques such as icon painting and weaving, which often form part of a cultural identity. According to Maiboroda, artists bear a responsibility to preserve and reinterpret such crafts in order to prevent them from being appropriated for ideological purposes. He therefore investigates how these often time-consuming practices can retain their values today. These values reside not solely in the finished object, but also in the act of making itself: a learning process in which knowledge exchange and collaboration are central, as well as a practice in which focus and repetition foster awareness and connection – with one another, the material, and the surrounding environment.
These ideas also find expression in Tide and Seed (2025), for which Maiboroda worked with tempera – a paint made with egg. Tempera requires an artisanal process using natural materials, applied in transparent layers. These layers form a veil that invites curiosity about what remains concealed beneath the surface. In earlier works, Maiboroda scattered cherry stones, eggshells or chestnuts across the foreground, referencing abundance and care. Here, too, the underlying message is that we must attend to the ‘ground’ on which we stand if we wish to enable the growth of something new.
Written by Esther Darley