A Theatre For Dreamers

Fluid, shifting forms, stormy skies and flashes of light. A Theatre For Dreamers at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Tower Bridge, brings together the work of two painters, Rita Maikova and Tamsin Morse, whose practices draw on the power of storytelling to imagine new ways of being in the world. For Ukrainian artist Rita Maikova art-making is a form of healing and resilience – a way of tapping into her unconscious mind to envision alternative modes of existence. Her paintings are populated by fantastical characters that have followed her through the different stages of her life, mutating in form and meaning over time. In this latest body of work, perhaps her most intimate to date, we are introduced to a series of new creatures that are elemental and nurturing, seemingly risen from the earth itself to act as guardians and protectors. In Fluffy Hugs we encounter a family of soft, rotund beings, made of something like moss. There is a deep sense of connection between each of them, as well as with their surroundings. Cradled in their arms are eggs – a symbol of fertility and future potential. Meanwhile, Familia imagines a different kind of family portrait. Here, the creatures have a luminescent, almost spectral quality that draws on Maikova’s childhood memories of playing in the snow at night. The ‘children’ in this scene are watched over by their parents – who are also a light source, guardians against the looming dark – as they stretch out their legs and pounce on one another. These works reflect on Maikova’s own experiences of caring for a young child, but also on her rebirth as a mother. This theme is perhaps most obvious in Dreaming, in which a winged woman lies sleeping beneath a bountiful landscape. Streams of silvery water pour from the terrain onto her body, while egg-like forms sit cosily tucked into nests. In the background, a fire or volcanic-like eruption bursts between two craggy forms. Each elemental presence hints at the idea of renewal and growth, but also upheaval, a world in the process of becoming; the darkening sky signalling the proximity of the unknown. Tamsin Morse’s paintings likewise balance beauty with uncertainty and violence. Her complex compositions weave together references from art history, mythology and contemporary life, highlighting the cyclical nature of history and the issues that persist across time. The largest work in the exhibition, A Painting About Journeying; Refuge of the Caryatids, depicts a tableau-like scene beneath a billowing banner held aloft by two caryatids. Yet this is a painting not of order, but of flux. The sky and sea swirl into one another, wrapping around the figures who themselves appear on the edge of descending into formlessness, as boundaries of space and time begin to dissolve. We glimpse Caravaggio here, Michelangelo's finger there, the raft of Medusa, a man in a Hawaiian shirt, an Alsatian dog. The effect is that of a collective fever dream, one that continually draws us back to the same moments. Elsewhere, we encounter a horse having wings sewn onto its back and a pig being scrubbed by three women. Both scenes hover between the mythological and the domestic, the fluid brushstrokes and touches of fluorescence again lending the works a dream-like quality. At the same time, they are paintings about illusion and performance – the horse dressed up as Pegasus, the pig ritually cleansed. Here, as in Journeying, Morse invites us to reflect on how narratives are constructed: how we choose what to see and believe, and how those choices shape our understanding of reality. In another work, the canvas is split in two by two modern-day genies who have escaped from their bottle and are seen fighting in a plume of smoke in the sky. To the left of them is what appears to be an idyllic pastoral scene – a tree laden with fruit, people walking through the fields, a cerulean river – while on the right, we are shown an almost hellish vision of destruction. Again, it is a painting that rewards deeper contemplation – the longer we spend with it, the more it reveals: a pool of blood-like liquid being lapped by a dog, the way a woman’s shadow leaks down her legs as if she herself is bleeding. Together, Maikova and Morse’s paintings draw us into states of transformation – places where myth, memory and lived experience intertwine, and where vulnerability, uncertainty and hope are held in delicate balance. Rita Maikova (b. 1990, Ukraine) lives and works in Barcelona. She studied Fine Arts at the Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design, graduating in 2012. The artist weaves forms and symbols taken from her personal life that explore interlocking themes of love, change, and resilience. Maikova's characters are various and unique, embedded into the landscape that flows through and around them. They are the inventions of her imagination, but they are also visions of a world in harmony. For Maikova, the act of creation is a healing process which unlocks access to her imagination allowing her to make candid yet surreal compositions. Solo exhibitions include (Upcoming) A Theatre for Dreamers, duo show with Tamsin Morse, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2026); Salon, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, West Palm Beach, FL (2025); Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, West Palm Beach (2024); Find me in the Garden, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Berlin, Germany (2024); Inner Guide, Volery Gallery, Dubai, UAE (2024); Bones and Ribbons, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2023); The New World Solo, Museum of Kyiv, Ukraine (2022); Expo 2020 Dubai, Tausho Gallery, Ukraine (2021-2022); Volta Art Fairs, Tausho Gallery, Basel Switzerland (2021); First Ukrainian NFT Exhibition, Unit City Karkov, Ukraine (2021); Its not the Louvre, Kyiv, Ukraine (2018); AMD Gallery, Ukraine (2018). Group exhibitions include The Armoury Show, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, New York, USA (2024); Horripilation, The Hole, New York, USA (2024); Chronicles 7, Droste Gallery, x KPM Berlin, Germany (2023); CAN Art Fair, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Ibiza, Spain (2023); All Together, Lorin Gallery, Los Angeles, California, USA (2023); Nexx Asia, Taipei, Taiwan (2023); Uprising, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Schloss Goerne, Germany (2022); Women and other wild creatures: matrilineal tales, Sapar Contemporary, New York, USA (2022); Imago Mundi - Benetton art project, Gallerie delle Prigioni, Treviso, Italy (2022); Group exhibition #1, Tausho Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine (2022); Verbalisation, Institute of Contemporary Art Problems, Ukraine (2021); Ukrainian Fashion Week, Ukraine (2017); Pierre Cardin Residence, France (2017); Yellow Giant, Gallery Odessa, Ukraine (2016); Feldman Art Park, Ukraine (2015). Rita Maikova's work can be found in private and public collections amongst them the Bunker Artspace, West Palm Beach, Florida, USA and the RO2 Art Collection, Dallas, USA. Tamsin Morse (b. UK) graduated from The Slade, London with a BA and an MA from Chelsea College of Art... Tamsin Morse (b. UK) graduated from The Slade, London with a BA and an MA from Chelsea College of Art and Design. In her paintings, Morse creates rich narratives that explore contemporary life through mankind’s most elemental instincts - conflict, judgement, morality and the enduring struggle for change. By reworking myths, religious imagery and art-historical symbols, she highlights the timeless tension between our desire to better the world and the limitations of our own nature. Her vibrant colours balance beauty with toxicity, offering not despair but a persistent sense of hope. Solo & Duo exhibitions include (Upcoming) A Theatre for Dreamers, duo show with Rita Maikova, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2025); Outliers, Q & C (Quip and Curiosity) Gallery, Cambridge, UK (2024); Tamsin Morse, Coleman Projects, London, UK (2011); Tamsin Morse, One in the Other, London, UK (2006). Group exhibitions include The Way We Live Now, Sun Gallery, Seoul, South Korea (2025); Gate of Horns, Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate, UK (2025); A Popular Bestiary, Tondo Cosmic, London, UK (2025); This Years Model III, Studio 1.1, London, UK (2025); Staged, Studio 1.1, London, UK (2024); Somatechnics, The Tagli, London, UK (2024); This Years Model II, Studio 1.1, London, UK (2023); This Years Model II, Studio 1.1, London, UK (2022); A Generous Space2, New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall, UK (2022); Fair Art Fair Curated II – Womxn, Unit 1 Gallery Workshop, London, UK (2022); This Years Model III, Studio 1.1, London, UK (2021); Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, London, UK (2011); Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Kenny Schachter / Rove, London, UK (2006). Tamsin Morse is the co-creator of Tondo Cosmic Projects, an arts group that inhabits unusual spaces to foster under-represented artists and has also runs a number of arts-council supported studio complexes to provide affordable workspace for artists including Trafalgar Works, Brighton and Hove, and currently Milton Studios, Cambridge. She has curated or co-curated several projects including ‘Gatsby’, and ‘The Tales of Hoffman’ in disused buildings in Hackney. Tamsin Morse has exhibited internationally and some of her major exhibitions include The Way We Live Now, Sun Gallery, Seoul, South Korea (2025); Gate of Horns, Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate, UK (2025) and Outliers, Q & C (Quip and Curiosity) Gallery, Cambridge, UK (2024). Morse’s work is held in private and public collections, including The Government Art Collection (UK); The New Art Gallery Walsall (UK); The Zabludowicz Collection (UK); Timothy Taylor (UK); The Open University (UK) and The University of the Arts (UK).

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