“Tapping into a sense of wonder: An Interview with Artist Natalia Zubko” Online Arts Journal: Anit-Heroin Chic, 9/6/2017
My site-responsive environments and sculptures are influenced and developed by a combination of the discoveries from the studio work with something about the space that I am installing. If possible, I like to visit the space to get a physical sense of the surroundings and history. Seeking the curiosity and delight already hidden in a space, looking for visual elements (like the color of a flower in the peripheral vision, the shape of a long skinny window, the way a path subtly curves on the ground, etc), allows me to create a space/interactive sculptures to bring these elements out for all viewer/participants to access. I print out the photos of not only of the space but particular elements that call out. I start drawing shapes, forms, colors directly over the photos. Once forms and proportions that feel exciting start to take shape, I make a physical, scaled-down model of the space with foam-core. The physicality of this kind of model allows me to work out more specifics and see the work in better relation to human-scale. In many instances, the final works feel like they were already a part of the space or naturally emerged from the spaces. I construct and orchestrate the space making both big and subtle moves, often undetected by the viewer, to make it feel this way.
