Does a pain­ting con­ceal more than it reveals? Emilia Kina examines the nature of pain­tings, the illusion embed­ded in them, and their physical con­struc­tion. In her works, she often indirec­tly alludes to forms from modern and  con­tem­porary art history.  

„Le soir qui tombe” is the title of a pain­ting by the  Bel­gian sur­realist René Magritte, and a source of inspiration  for Kina’s multi-​staged pain­ting story. Kina’s pain­tings are  arran­ged in the gal­lery space in a staging whose theme  is the cyc­licality of nature and its inherent dramaturgy, the human inc­lination to read the world—and art—as a  roman­tic spec­tacle. This scenic con­cept promises sub­lime pleasure and the anxiety associated with the elusiveness  and fragility of the anticipated moment, the ideal instant, this one image. 

The pain­tings are linked in sequen­ces. The light seems to shift from canvas to canvas, sug­gesting a space/time relation­ship. This is yet another level of illusion the artist  introduces into her pain­ting that goes beyond the flexible  shaping of the canvases. Pleated cur­tains and draperies, a leading theme in Kina’s work, retain lights and shadows. Con­tem­plating the visible world while toying with temp­tation and desire seems to be their primary func­tion. Ultimately, however, they uphold the mystery that awaits us  on the other side.