Korotkova’s paintings deal with the new technologies within the field of modern medicine research used for fertilization and as a means of saving the lives of premature infants. In her series Reproduction, the technical advancements are geared to the purpose of “reproducing humans”. The artist uses a very old tempera technique, a method of painting that demands considerable technical knowledge and skilled - craftsmanship. The realistic and detailed style is reminiscent of the new pragmatism of the early 1900s that was applied in both the starkly realistic as well as in satirical images often with grotesque undertones. In Korotkova’s paintings one detects a Science Fiction-like allusion to a cynical society of the future, where humans are created in factories by technologists. Here there is a fine line between the advancements of the present and the utopias we encounter in visions of the future.

Elisabeth Fagerstedt
2009