The Fleeting Shadow, 2025

Natalia Koval  

The artist views painting as a tool for capturing the “shadow" of a memory that vanishes instantly, leaving behind only an emotional imprint.
The central figure on the bicycle symbolizes the continuous flow of consciousness. This is a person who does not dwell on the past but “passes through" it. In this case, archiving occurs not through accumulation but through filtration: the mind discards the superfluous, leaving only a sense of speed and direction.
The distinct, elongated shadow in the foreground is a metaphor for a frozen memory. A shadow is an imprint that vanishes instantly when the light source changes. In this work, the artist attempts to archive precisely this “elusive shadow"- the sensation that something was there, even if the details have blurred.
The blue sheet hanging in the background, resembling a sail, serves as a metaphor for a frozen snapshot of everyday life.
The narrow alley creates a sense of confinement and, at the same time, of moving forward, which is characteristic of how memory “compresses" space when we recall a specific route. The palette, rendered in warm ochre and cool blue-gray tones, emphasizes the contrast between reality and dreams, which is a recurring theme throughout my work.
This work explores the fragile boundary between movement and stillness, and how a fleeting moment - a bike ride, a sheet hanging out to dry - can become fixed in our minds as a fundamental memory. It is an archiving not of events, but of sensations.