Kate by Darya Sokolova
Explore Mondoir Studio
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 90 x 120 cm
Year: 2024
Price: $2300.00 USD
Status: available
This painting is a part of series called “Power & Presence”. After leaving Kazakhstan, I built my life across countries where male leadership was the only story being told. I watched women work twice as hard for half the recognition, while my exterior was noticed first, my intelligence discovered later, if at all. These portraits are my corrective. I paint women at monumental scale with commanding palettes. Deep burgundies, emerald greens, regal golds. Because that's the truth of our importance, not the diminished version we've been sold. Women are just as essential as men. These women don't wait for permission. They don't apologize for their intelligence. They understand what I learned building my future from nothing: our power doesn't need validation. It just needs visibility.
Why collect this work?
A backward glance and upright posture make this portrait less a display of confidence than a study in watchful self-possession.
- Sokolova identifies Kate as part of her “Power & Presence” series, conceived as a corrective to women’s under-recognition. That stated aim clarifies the enlarged figure, though the guarded expression keeps authority from becoming a simple slogan.
- The photographed painting shows a tightly cropped bust framed and partly crossed by black botanical lines. Pattern flattens the teal-colored garment, while modeled shadows give the face and neck greater weight, concentrating attention on the sideways gaze.
- The documented acrylic medium makes possible the sharp opposition seen here between opaque color fields, pale facial modeling, and calligraphic contours. Repeated copper-colored ovals turn clothing into an active visual field rather than background detail.
- At 90 by 120 cm, Kate gives a single figure substantial physical presence. It is particularly useful in collections examining how contemporary portraiture negotiates visibility through pose, scale, ornament, and the conventions of looking.
About the Artist
Darya Sokolova
Darya Sokolova is an artist on Mondoir Studio. Artistic discipline: painting. Based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Nationality: Kazakh
I create art for women who refuse to blend in. My portraits are bold, symbolic, and designed to be the statement piece in any space.
