Collection

Loboda created the series The Evolution of Kings for her exhibition Havoc in the Heavenly Kingdom at Kunsthalle Basel, which raised motifs of the ancient cults of kings and deities upholding historical power structures. The title derives from J.G. Frazer’s anthropological work The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (1890). Elegant men’s shoes and trouser cuffs are photographed in nonchalant poses. But these classics of men’s style, timeless attributes of bankers and politicians, are covered in mud. The artist explained in an interview: “I don’t know why I have such an obsession with them, but for me businessmen are like avatars or knights of some strange order. I eagerly project immorality, savagery and madness onto them.” Shiny shoes in gleaming mud—the imagination runs wild. Is this some kind of fetish for bored financiers? Movie gangsters who dig shallow graves in the swamps? Who is trying to break into the “heavenly kingdom” in filthy footwear?

A visual artist, Maria Loboda creates puzzling, multi-element installations, sculptural objects, photographs, graphic works, and drawings with intriguing titles. Literary works or obscure historical facts often serve as an inspiration and point of departure for her. Loboda constructs exhibitions like a tale without beginning or end, entering into a dialogue with the history and architecture of the site. She resorts to forgotten symbols, codes and iconography. She interrogates the dominant narratives and systems of authority, and their material attributes, from ancient Egyptian monarchies to the British bourgeoisie and the modern figure of the international business tycoon, conducting a form of speculative contemporary archaeology. Her works have been shown at such events as Documenta 13 in Kassel (2012) and the 58^th Venice Biennale (2019). She lives and works in Berlin and Kraków.