BOOROOM GALLERY x |catalog| 2026
Booroom Gallery presented its first project at the |catalog| fair. For over 12 years, the gallery has cultivated an interdisciplinary approach, consistently expanding the scope of its interests. Participation in |catalog| places a special emphasis on projects by artists working within the realm of art. Despite the diversity and variability of approaches and traditions, they are united by an experimental impulse and a deep exploration of their chosen medium—whether it is Masao Yamamoto’s investigation of the possibilities of photography, Kolya Dykhne’s engagement with abstraction and graphic drawing, Lee Chevalier’s ink painting, Tomonari Hashimoto’s unique ceramic firing techniques, or James Hill’s use of photography as a means of restoring lost heritage.
Booroom positions itself as an active participant in the artistic process, perceiving art as a living channel of communication, where not only the work itself matters, but also the direct interaction between artists and audience. In this sense, the gallery acts as a mediator, accumulating meanings and retransmitting them in new contexts. Its mission, articulated by Irina Budtseva-Vinitskaya, is to create conditions in which new ideas and values—relevant today and meaningful tomorrow—emerge from the intersection of diverse voices.
The young artist Kolya Dykhne combines various media in his practice, ranging from sculpture and large-scale metal installations to working with clay, textile, and ink. In his graphic work, he relies on simple structures and lines from which cohesive images gradually emerge. Observations of line, form, and shadow on paper transform into complete compositions, where landscapes and architectural elements begin to take shape. His graphics do not demand a fixed or singular interpretation; instead, the artist invites the viewer to share a space of observation, entering a meditative journey guided by line and form.
Li Chevalier works at the intersection of figuration and abstraction, and of Western and Eastern traditions, creating contemplative and poetic landscapes. Her practice is grounded in the principles of Chan painting, which connects mastery of ink with meditation. Combining the possibilities of European and Eastern art, she blends techniques and chooses canvas rather than paper as her surface. While her works retain a sense of spirituality and meditative stillness, their references to cosmic forces, nature, poetic symbolism, and abstraction invite viewers to reconsider the world through their own interpretations.
The works of Japanese artist Masao Yamamoto function as “visual haiku,” precisely capturing the poetry of a lived moment. His practice is characterized by asceticism, meditative silence, modesty, and an ability to convey a vision of emptiness. In the Bonsai series, Yamamoto seeks to express the essence of a world in which the vast universe has been condensed into a single bonsai tree—a traditional symbol of harmony in Japanese culture.
Tomonari Hashimoto belongs to a generation of ceramic artists who create new interpretations of traditional techniques, thereby bridging past and present. His objects appear to be made of oxidized metal due to a special firing process based on several traditional Japanese methods of working with clay, including the “tsuchi” effect and the “seto-yaki” type of ceramics.
James Hill, a photojournalist, Pulitzer Prize winner, and World Press Photo laureate, explores historical memory and the preservation of disappearing artifacts. In his series Monumental Mosaic of Moscow, he documents Moscow metro stations, houses of culture, museums, hospitals, schools, and panel apartment buildings. His photographs become vital testimonies of an era and a rare, precise record of the traces of time in the present.
