Antonina Fatkhullina’s work is a unique combination of monumental sculpture and lightness of graphics. Her openwork, welded structures allow her to subtly convey the character of characters and their specificity through plastic lines, revealing the potential of each image from an unexpected angle. The thematic variety of her works is amazing: mythology, children’s toys, portraits, animals and domestic scenes. The sculptor utilizes available materials such as steel wire, rusted metal, crumpled tin and found objects. These elements, intertwined with cultural associations, allow her sculptures to push the boundaries of genre and ask global questions about cultural identity and man’s place in the world.
Antonina Fathullina’s images, according to art historian Alexander Davidovich Borovsky, are open structures that extend beyond the physical parameters of the works and interact with any space. They are capable of revitalizing even the most boring and typical places. The legacy of the Leningrad modernist school, as well as the influence of such masters as Simun, Smorgon, Lazarev, Brovina and Tsivin, is evident in her work. However, Antonina is characterized by her desire to create images that freely transmit light, air and even ideological meanings without becoming their relays. Her sculptures are immune to ideological manipulation while remaining layered and expressive.
Antonina’s works are in the collections of the State Russian Museum and the Museum of Urban Sculpture and decorate public spaces in St. Petersburg, as well as cities in Germany, Spain, Iran, Canada, China, Finland, Egypt and Montenegro.
