Self-portrait

Self-portraiture equals autobiography and remains the artist's main method of self-exploration and self-actualization.

Self-portraiture is one possible way to see, feel and realize oneself ("I am, I exist"), and so maximize or change one's identity through the optics of playing "the gaze of the other" or "the poetry of the everyday".
In her work, the artist is close to the "intimism" of the 20-30s of the last century, so the color solutions are inspired by the paintings of the Nabi group, and the compositions are consonant with the subjects of Edward Hopper - figures in a state of pause, waiting in open spaces.

The artist's deeply personal narrative is imbued with sensuality and she literally depicts herself "in her mother's clothes", because nudity is the most natural, natural state of the human body. The vulnerability and power of nudity is accepted by the author through slowing down and contemplation. The eroticism of her paintings is confronted with non-obvious questions - what is better/simpler: to be desired or to be desired? What can be relied upon to interpret sensual experience: imagination, obsession, dreams or memory? Through what or with what can one realize one's own self in the present moment? What is the "individual flow of time" today? And how does the time experienced synchronize with the author's inner sense of self?
The mysteriousness of the relationship between man and nature, the problematic nature of their unity is an eternal debate. The artist finds the resolution of these disputes in refusing to oppose man to nature, and modeling variants of their synchronicity, interrelation and continuous interaction.
Rousseau's ideas expressed in the maxim "retour à la nature", as interpreted by the artist, are the understanding that human beings are an integral part of the natural world and have never been and will never be separated from it. The artist tries to realize and feel this unity through her own body.

All her works are based on a performative interaction with the landscape. The creation of a new series of works is preceded by travels in cities and nature, and photo shoots in "field conditions". Like a modern Mowgli, she climbs trees, repeats the shapes of architecture, stones and plants with her body, communicates with animals, explores water flows and air movements.
In Maria Evdokimova's works, nature is obviously greater than man - it is an indifferent and irresistible force. Therefore, the artist refuses instrumental ways of interacting with the landscape. Her tactic is balanced presence. To be in space is to be found in it. In practice, this means establishing contact, communication, synchronization with the landscape. Hence the desire to liken the lines and shapes of the body to the lines and shapes of the landscape as answers to organic questions: What is my body? What is its relationship with the landscape?

Therefore, the state of the character in the paintings shown at the author's first solo exhibition is a pause, a bodily reflection of "interaction" with space. This is a continuation of the artist's internal dialog about what the body can give to the landscape, what the energy exchange between the figure and the surrounding nature can be, and what is the drama of these interactions.

The tactility of sunlight, air and water movements are all sensual aspects of the synchronization, co-existence and coexistence of man and nature. The ethics and drama of this relationship is expressed by the author in the primary gesture, in the attempt to realize space through the step, the movements of the hand, the contact of the body with objects, surfaces and environments.