Ekaterina Galera (b. 1977, Ulan-Ude, Russia) is a visual artist based in Toulouse, France. She moved to France in 2009 and has lived and worked there since.

Originally trained in linguistics, she worked in design before focusing fully on her artistic practice in 2020.

About my practice

In my work, the whole form is rarely visible. Usually, only part of something larger appears. A dark mass enters the painting from the side or from below, as if it continues beyond the edges.

What interests me is the relationship between this mass and the space around it: how much space it takes, where it stops, how close it comes to the edge, and how it changes the emptiness that remains.

The mass feels physical and heavy, but it doesn’t represent one specific thing. It can feel familiar without being identifiable. That sense of recognizing something without knowing exactly what it is interests me more than naming it.

The surface carries the same tension. It is built in layers, with material added, removed, rubbed away and sanded. Many of these traces remain visible. From a distance, the dark areas look solid and heavy. Up close, they reveal scratches, irregularities and traces of earlier layers. What first appears strong and solid becomes fragile on closer inspection.

Reduction happens throughout this process, but it isn’t the goal. I remove what becomes too descriptive or too clear. I’m not trying to arrive at something minimal, but to find the point where the mass, the surface and the open space hold the right tension.