About
Victoria Reshetnikov (b. 2002, Queens, NY) is a first-generation Russian-American and New York-based artist working through interdisciplinary methods of making and research that center architecture, archaeology, and miniature in relation to New York City. She is a recent graduate from Columbia University with Bachelor's degrees in Art History and Visual Arts, and has recently completed a research project on the 1964-65 New York World's Fair and completed their first book "Queens: Your Time is Infinite." Her work has been featured in the Journal of Art Criticism and Ratrock Magazine, and has been exhibited in select group shows in New York City, including at Field Projects and Moshava Gallery. She's organized a set of shows with the art collective The Useless Art Society, as well as independent curatorial projects.
Contact: vilinda789@gmail.com
Artist's Statement
In Queens there is a particular smell or feeling that I have not yet named, that has in it melancholic nostalgia, or jittery awkwardness, or something in between. I grew up there, because my family fled the Soviet Union in 1991. Now, 33 years later, I am asking: what is this place, this ringing at the root of urban life? Through my work, I am arguing for an urban kind of infinity, based in identity, history, legacy, and delight. That here I am, together, with you.
At the root of my practice is memory, both personal and collective. To build my archive, I excavate relationships, people, and places: I pick things up off the ground and out of the dollar store, from the photo album and from the top of mall parking lots. Picturing this memory has necessitated the interweaving of interdisciplinary mechanical and traditional making: I draw, 3D print, stencil, screenprint, trim, draft, lasercut, file, sublimate, embroider, etch, and cut. I combine my working knowledge to create drawings, prints, and sculptures, iterating structures and images to create installations and interactive material.
My practice often turns to miniaturization and architecture as modes to consider urban development. The structure of the miniature is a highly political one that finds footing in mid-century modernism and globalization through the futuristic diorama. I consider that structure, as well as mapping, grid planning, and drafting as tools for control and urban displacement, through sites like the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair.