Baroque Anarchist (Alexandra Suvorova)

b. 1986, Russian

By Sylvia Walker

April 18, 2022

Biography

Baroque Anarchist – the better known alter ego nickname of Alexandra Suvorova – is a London-based artist taking on the striking parallels between the contemporary era and the Baroque epoch, which she mines for artistic guidance and inspiration.

Born in Moscow during the 1986 Chernobyl Disaster, Suvorova has always been fascinated by the quest for immortality through science and art, in contrast with the vulnerability and strength of the body. Layering contemporary art practices into her background in Baroque painting and theatre design – tracing the present to its past – Baroque Anarchist creates deeply personal contemporary artworks, yet unafraid to tackle bold themes and contemporary issues.

In 2019, Suvorova moved to London where she continues to paint with oils, often on large scale canvases. From initially sticking pieces from theatrical sets and costumes into her Baroque-influenced paintings, many of her works began to spill over the limits of the canvas and “break the fourth wall”, between art and the viewer. Doing so, Suvorova experiments in installation art, painting on clothes, and interactive performance.

Baroque painting is a slow, many-layered, labour-intensive method that achieves that fleshy materiality and allows to enlarge biological fragments to make large paintings standing at the crossroad of mythology, science fiction, feminist theory and anarchism.

Portrait of Alexandra Suvorova as Baroque Anarchist. Photo courtesy the artist.

Career Facts

The artists achieved a degree in contemporary painting at the Institute of Contemporary Art Issues in 2012, followed by a PhD the very same year in Theatre Design.

Ever since, her work has appeared in solo and group shows across Europe and the United States of America. She has exhibited at several museum institutions and art spaces, including a solo exhibition at the Museum or Russian Painting in 2020 or the Darwin Museum of Natural History in 2021. Recently, an NFT was created, and her desire to take art out into the street remains strong as ever, resulting in several collaborations with London street artists.

From 2008 up to 2018, Suvorova worked as a costume and set designer for the Central Academic Theatre, and worked as a guest lecturer at Eastern International Art College in Zhenghou, China.

Installation view. Photo courtesy the artist.

Artworks

Baroque Anarchist, The Riddle, 2021. Oil on canvas, spray paint, street artist collaboration LastStandCell – 150 x 240 cm. Courtesy the artist.

Baroque Anarchist, Genesis, 2020. Oil on paper – 100 x 150 cm. Courtesy the artist.

Baroque Anarchist, Genesis, 2021. Oil on paper – 100 x 164 cm. Courtesy the artist.

Baroque Anarchist, Dreaming with open eyes, 2020. Oil on paper – 100 x 150 cm. Courtesy the artist.

Baroque Anarchist, Medusa, 2021. Oil on canvas – 150 x 240 cm. Courtesy the artist.

Baroque Anarchist, Quagga. Went extinct 1973, 2020. Oil o canvas, plastic – 100 x 160 cm. Courtesy the artist.

Baroque Anarchist, Judith, 2021. Oil on canvas – 150 x 160 cm. Courtesy the artist.

Baroque Anarchist, Urban Garden near Rivery Mercy, 2022. Oil on canvas – 100 x 150 cm. Courtesy the artist.

Baroque Anarchist, Stix river and garden underworld, 2021. Oil on canvas, model, plexiglass, egg, ribbons – 120 x 180 cm. Courtesy the artist.

Baroque Anarchist, On Air, 2021. Oil on canvas, neon – 100 x 150 cm. Courtesy the artist.

Last Updated on May 3, 2023

Sylvia Walker

Sylvia Walker (b. 1986, US) is an art historian, essayist, art critic, and curator. After contributing to numerous publications, and curating exhibitions in the United States of America and beyond, she currently works as the assistant director of Contemporary Art Issue (CAI).

Author archive →