Maria Koshenkova: It's very sexy in a way

Russian Art Focus met with Maria Koshenkova (b.1981) Russian sculptor and artist working in glass who has been living in Denmark for the past 15 years. Her projects are exhibited in museums from America to Japan and her glassworks are on display in Brussels, Rome and the city of her birth, St. Petersburg.

Koshenkova fights the notion that the intrinsic beauty of glass makes it a poor medium for the art of storytelling. The artist blends an innate need for conflict with traditional Scandinavian aesthetics and succeeds in packing strong emotions into her glass pieces.

She told us how Scandinavian and Japanese influences have shaped her personal views and artistic practice; how storytelling and emotional expression can be crafted through the material; how to remain free to continue doing what she wants as an artist, and the challenges of working with glass.