Costa Gorelov

Costa Gorelov was born in Moscow in 1993 and continues to live and work in Moscow. He studied at the Moscow Institute of Television and Radio Broadcasting, graduating in Film Directing (Cinema). In his work Costa explores people’s emotional and psychological states, often depicting them through the interactions of a figure with different spaces, objects and fashion items. Fashion, in particular, is paramount to his self-expression. It is also a symbol linking epochs, times, and traditions.

Gorelov grew up in the tradition of the North German Renaissance. German music, literature, painting, culture, and language have greatly influenced him, and played a key role in the formation of his style. The basic principles he uses when creating his paintings are those of the Baroque, the Renaissance, and interior design. Architecture plays a primary role in his art, in particular its basis upon stone and the golden ratio. Gorelov strives to incorporate elements of Gothic and Baroque architecture into the everyday life of his characters through handbags and accessories that carry the DNA of this architectural heritage. He wants to show that despite changes in trends and different eras, the fundamental things are unshakable and unchanging.

Costa Gorel

Black Friday, 2021

Óleo sobre lienzo (díptico)

240 x 260cm

Interview

What inspires you when creating? I’m always inspired by something new. I can be inspired by something that I might not have been paying attention to yesterday and it's always unpredictable for me. Constant inspiration is always architecture, music, literature, art, humor, interior design, fashion, and of course, my everyday bible is Virginia Wolf.

What are you working on recently? Now I’m working on the project for Dr. Robot Gallery, on a series of big format paintings. One of them is 3 x 4 meters high and is dedicated to Moscow’s subway. I’m going to create here a special tension between characters and space.

Tell us about your creative process. I can plan painting for a long time and I can make a lot of sketches but end up with something completely different on the painting. I always try to create my own, world my own stories using videos or something else, but painting is the only point where I feel I belong and it’s the main foundation of my life. I’m very happy and beyond joy when I’m painting.

Costa Gorel

Danube, 2020

Oleo sobre lienzo (díptico)

100 x 82cm

Are you participating for the first time in the fair? What do you expect from Art Madrid? I expect to enjoy the fair, to get to know new names new works and my work to become more recognizable. And of course, you always expect sunshine and warmth from Madrid.

You grew up surrounded by the tradition of North German renaissance culture. How can we see this influence in your work? This influence can be traced back to the fact that I always use graphics in my paintings and that I have always been inspired by Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach, Gustav Klimt, and so many others. I always tried to convey an extremely personal sense of understanding of the world with its duality, changeability and complexity. It’s very typical and important to me to connect the fashion and interior items with the characters and compositions. Yes, my characters are romantic

Fashion and nudity are two elements very present in your work, are both the mirror to explore people's feelings and expression in your process? I use nudity as a symbol, as a device to show the vulnerability and certain fabulousness and at the same time the strangeness of characters. Fashion is the constant concrete of history like stone with which modernity is linked to primitive times. My characters are hiding behind fashion and architecture because they want to protect themselves. In this way, I’m trying to express human feelings like insecurity, melancholy, and joy.

Costa Gorel

Personal Icon, 2021

Oil on canvas

40 x 50cm

Costa Gorelov participates in Art Madrid with Dr. Robot Gallery, along together with Katya Sheglova y Vova Perkin.

ABIERTO INFINITO. LO QUE EL CUERPO RECUERDA. CICLO DE PERFORMANCE X ART MADRID'26

Art Madrid, committed to creating a discursive platform for artists working within the field of performance and action art, presents Abierto Infinito: lo que el cuerpo recuerda, a proposal inspired by Erving Goffman’s ideas in The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (Amorrortu Editores, Buenos Aires, 1997).

The project unfolds within a theoretical framework that directly engages with these premises, conceiving social interaction as a stage of carefully modulated performances designed to influence others’ perceptions. Goffman argues that individuals deploy both verbal and involuntary expressions to guide the interpretation of their behavior, sustaining roles and façades that define the situation for those who observe.

The body — the first territory of all representation — precedes both word and learned gesture. Human experience, conscious and unconscious alike, is inscribed within it. Abierto Infinito: lo que el cuerpo recuerda departs from this premise: representation inhabits existence itself, and life, understood as a succession of representations, transforms the body into a space of constant negotiation over who we are. In this passage, boundaries blur; the individual opens toward the collective, and the ephemeral acquires symbolic dimension. By inhabiting this interstice, performance simultaneously reveals the fragility of identity and the strength that emerges from encounter with others.

PERFORMANCE: OFF LINE. JIMENA TERCERO

March 7 | 7:00 p.m. Galería de Cristal of the Palacio de Cibeles.

OFF LINE is a performance piece that reflects on the fragility of the body in the digital age. Our relationship with the outside world is mediated by a screen, which distances us further and further from physical contact and interpersonal relationships. Focusing on creating a digital identity causes the body to distance itself from the physical world and lose its memory.

Hyperconnectivity and fragmented attention lead to a more passive physical existence, characterised by reduced spontaneous movement and less direct sensory interaction. This raises fundamental questions: how is the concept of presence redefined when our relationship with the world relies on technological mediation? What will the experience of the body be like in a future where virtuality predominates over the physical? There is a risk of progressive bodily passivity: bodies that remain still, whose activity is determined by devices and whose memory is stored digitally. The fragmentation of physical experience and the primacy of technological representation create a scenario in which, although the body is visible, it is displaced from its original function as an agent of perception and action.

This conceptual framework invites reflection on the impact of digitisation on corporeality, memory and social relationships, and on the vulnerability and inertia experienced by bodies in environments that are increasingly mediated by technology.

ABOUT JIMENA TERCERO

Jimena Tercero (Madrid, 1998) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the boundaries of the female body, identity, and the subconscious. She uses performance, video, and painting to address concepts such as memory, tangibility, and play. Tercero trained in painting with Lola Albín and in analog photography at Cambridge in 2014. She studied audiovisual direction from 2018 to 2020 with renowned figures such as Víctor Erice and the production company El Deseo. She is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Creative Direction at ELISAVA. She completed her performance training at La Juan Gallery. In 2011, she was part of the children's jury at the Isfahan Film Festival in Iran.

Her directed works include Private (2016) and Paranoid (2021), which were exhibited at the Aspa Contemporary Gallery. She has also worked on projects such as Yo, mi, me, conmigo (2023, Teatros del Canal), Inside Voices (2021, Conde Duque with Itziar Okariz), and La última regla (La Juan Gallery). She has directed fashion films for publishers and brands such as Puma, Dior, and Dockers. She has also provided art direction for artists such as Sen Senra and Jorge Drexler. Additionally, she directed the documentary Also Here for ArtforChange–La Caixa. She presented Out of View (Nebula Gallery), EDEN (White Lab Gallery), and Navel Bite (Sinespacio). She participates in residencies such as Medialab with Niño de Elche and Miguel Álvarez Fernández. In 2025, she will be part of the Special Jury of the Asian Film Fest in Barcelona and the International Cultural Museum of Assilah Art Residency in Morocco).