There are artworks that whisper, and then there are those that seem to breathe with you. Replenishment, a powerful mixed media piece by Alina Obukhova, is not merely a visual experience but a visceral invocation, a moment of pause carved into canvas. It does not shout for attention, yet it holds you. It beckons you inward, inviting a silent reckoning with your own rhythm of depletion and renewal.

In this mixed media abstract work selected for Here and Now 2025, Gallerium’s international smart exhibition, Obukhova unearths the quiet power of restoration—of not pushing forward, but allowing energy to flow back in. This message sits at the very heart of the Here and Now exhibition, a tribute to presence, to immediacy, to the raw and truthful moment we often overlook in our quest for progress. In Replenishment, we are called to embrace the wisdom of stillness. It is a spiritual gesture disguised as an artwork—a reminder that the path forward is sometimes found in the art of receiving.

At first glance, the composition stirs the senses with its spiraling elegance, like galaxies colliding or rivers returning to their source. Rich swathes of violet-grey wash across the canvas, intersected by deep textures of volcanic black and molten crimson. Obukhova uses lava sand and acrylic to create dramatic dimensionality—this is not a flat image; it is a topography. Her brushwork feels geological, like time passing through stone. Veins of glinting gold erupt from the darker strata, refracting light as if hope is not merely present but forged under pressure.

The palette is at once subdued and radiant. Mauve and slate tones dominate the periphery, holding the viewer in a contemplative hush, while the center burns with warm, life-giving energy—coppers, crimsons, and metallic golds coalescing in luminous trails. These fiery strokes pulse like arteries through the cool-toned quietude, embodying both conflict and connection. The overall effect is one of alchemy, earth and fire transmuted into vision and feeling.

Emotionally, the work feels like an exhale long overdue. It speaks of exhaustion, yes—but also of surrender, and through surrender, renewal. There is a sacred slowness to the composition. The textures and layers, both physical and symbolic, echo the process of healing: uneven, nonlinear, sometimes ruptured, but always moving toward wholeness. It does not attempt to perfect; it allows. And in this permission lies the genius of Obukhova’s vision.

As an artist, psychologist, and art therapist, Alina Obukhova wields her materials with intimate knowing. Her artworks are not aesthetic objects but encounters—tactile, transformative, and deeply human. Drawing from volcanic metaphors, she visualizes the cycles of eruption and repair, the delicate balance between chaos and form. Replenishment is not an escape from conflict—it is an embrace of it. In her world, contradiction is not a flaw but a doorway, a sacred tension through which the soul grows.

Her practice is rooted in the belief that transformation begins with reclaiming the hidden, the repressed, the fragmented. The surface of the canvas becomes an emotional landscape where textures mirror scars, luminous pigments echo resilience, and movement traces the path of becoming. Every mark feels intentional yet intuitive, fluid lines curl and twist, not in chaos but in a choreography of unfolding.

From a conceptual point of view, Replenishment explores more than the idea of energy or healing—it delves into the deeper notion of permission. Permission to pause, to soften, to replenish without guilt. The artwork serves as a metaphorical vessel, reminding us that presence is power and stillness is strength. It acknowledges the body’s need to rest, the soul’s craving for peace, and the spirit’s quiet resilience in simply beginning again.

Obukhova’s intuitive understanding of emotional texture and visual depth makes her work profoundly resonant. Each gesture, each material, each luminous crack feels born not only from an artist’s hand but from a seeker’s truth. Through gold-laced fractures and earthy scars, she tells the story of what it means to return to oneself after long depletion, and to do so with grace.

As part of Here and Now 2025, this artwork stands as a luminous counterpoint to urgency. It offers sanctuary to those who feel emptied by the pace of life. It whispers: “Let go. Let it in. Let yourself be replenished.”

In Replenishment, Alina Obukhova reveals not only her mastery of mixed media and composition, but a deeper truth: that art, at its most profound, is a return. A return to self, to feeling, to the sacred now.

To witness more of Alina’s extraordinary vision, visit her official website, connect via Instagram, or explore her artistic presence through her Biafarin profile.