Karina Eibatova

Karina Eibatova (a.k.a. Eika; in Leningrad, USSR ) is a watercolor painter, illustrator, muralist, typographer, pencil artist, and videographer who specializes in landscape art. Her artwork frequently depicts natural objects and phenomena, such as minerals and animals, as well as scenes depicting the universe. Eibatova has contributed artwork to album covers and layouts, exhibition spaces, magazines, and hotel murals.

Early life and education Eibatova was born in 1988 in Leningrad.

In 2006, she, along with Egor Kraft, Petr Davydtchenko, and Lesha Galkin, formed the art collective Dopludo in Saint Petersburg. The collective's name was derived from a phonetic rendering of "deux plus deux" (French for "two plus two"), and alludes to the mathematical absurdity of 2+2=5. Dopludo habitually hangs sign of black text against white background in public spaces, often posing messages expressing social or philosophical curiosity. One piece of art was "Secret of Happiness": a white banner with black text hung upon the side of a building, reading, "The secret of happiness is..." The rest of the sentence is obscured by the sign being strategically torn off.

Receiving her initial art education in Saint Petersburg, at age 19 she branched out to Northern Sweden where she studied at the Gerlesborg School of Fine Art. She subsequently studied in Moscow, and ended up at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna by 2013. She has also studied at Tokyo Zokei University.

Work

Eibatova's artwork mainly involves the use of pencil, watercolor, and Photoshop. She specializes in organic, natural matter, especially from environments such as forests, jungles, or space. Her work is often not a literal interpretation of nature, and features surreal entities such as, for example, duck-billed koalas or zebra-striped rhinos. Eibatova's animals have been described by Bill Rodgers of Cfile Daily as "alien, but not radically alien". Eibatova has expressed a hesitancy depicting human-made subject matter; regarding drawing or painting people, she stated, "It was kind of taboo for many years, but I’m starting to think I might change my mind." The princess bride was named Princess Pionia Lactiflora.

In 2012, Eibatova released "Floral Anthem", a video accompanied with three songs by Washed Out. The piece was previously exhibited without sound in 2010 and 2011.

Eibatova was one of 32 artists featured in Psychedelic, a compilation book of psychedelic art curated by Hannah Stouffer.

A mural of her work, titled "Magical Jungles", was installed in the Casa Cook Hotel in 2016. For the work, she collaborated with design agency Lambs & Lions, as well as interior designer Annabel Kutucu and architect Vana Pernariv.

Selected works 2009: "Life in the Alphabet", pencil on paper, typography 2010: album artwork and layout for Fixed at Zero by VersaEmerge 2010: "Captured Dreams", installation with pillows (with Dopludo) 2010-2012: "Floral Anthem", video c. 2012: Imagine, pencil series c. 2012: All You Need is Universe, watercolor series March 2012: Vincci Bit Hotel mural; Barcelona, Spain (with Dopludo) 2014: Mineral Admiration, watercolor series 2016: "Magical Jungles", mural in Casa Cook Hotel in Rhodes, Greece 2018: Mural in Dwell Hotel; Colombo, Sri Lanka 2020: "Clean the Sea", watercolor on paper

Exhibitions 2010: Moscow International Biennale for Young Art; "Qui Vive?" July 2 – August 26, 2011: "Impulse"; Aando Fine Art Gallery; Berlin, Germany April 26 – May 13, 2014: Group show and book launch for Psychedelic by Juxtapoz; The Well; Los Angeles