Egor Lovki - Bildraum 01 Vienna

Egor Lovki: "I smiled but misunderstood" at Bildraum 01

Expectations don't evaporate when misread. They accumulate like sediment.

Egor Lovki treats them as archaeological finds, weaving cultural symbols into works that feel ancient and unfinished.

The Exhibition: Egor Lovki

We've been following Egor Lovki's work since Parallel Vienna, where he earned the Bildrecht YOUNG ARTIST Award 2024. That wasn't luck.
It was recognition of an artist asking questions the Viennese scene needed.

Igor lovki, artist, at bildraum, vienna exhibition review, friday dispatch - catapult munchies art club — **Egor Lovki,** “I Smiled but Misunderstood,” at Bildraum 01, Vienna. Large-scale mosaic and multilayered work on view. | Image © Munchies Art Club

Installation view of Egor Lovki’s exhibition “I Smiled but Misunderstood” at Bildraum 01, Vienna, showing two large-scale mosaic works in black, red, blue, and white tones presented in a minimalist gallery space. — Installation view, **Egor Lovki, “I Smiled but Misunderstood,” at Bildraum 01**, Vienna. Large-scale mosaic and multilayered works on view. | Image © **Catapult – Friday Dispatch**, Vienna exhibition we recommend in our Friday Special.

Now, with "I smiled but misunderstood" at Bildraum 01 during Vienna Art Week, Lovki deepens his inquiry into the fragile architecture of expectations.

The space at Strauchgasse feels deliberate. White walls, industrial flooring, works that breathe. A horizontal mixed-media piece on canvas stretches across one wall, mosaics, in blue, black, and gestural red, like a timeline that refuses to progress.

Egor Lovki, artwork “I Smiled but Misunderstood” at Bildraum 01, Vienna, — Egor Lovki, “I Smiled but Misunderstood,” at Bildraum 01, Vienna. Detail from a large-scale mosaic exploring gesture, tension, and line. | Image © Catapult – Friday Dispatch

Close-up of Egor Lovki’s mosaic work from the exhibition “I Smiled but Misunderstood” at Bildraum 01, Vienna, showing a painted hand form wrapped with red lines against a background of blue and black tesserae. — Detail view, **Egor Lovki, “I Smiled but Misunderstood,”** at Bildraum 01, Vienna. Mixed-media mosaic with painted gestures and red thread lines. | Image © Catapult – Friday Dispatch.

Opposite, a cruciform work in coral-red and black holds a figure in mid-collapse or mid-rise. It's impossible to tell which. Chains dangle from edges. Nothing resolves.

Can the future be built from culturally formed expectations, or does it need to emerge unrecognizable?

His works suggest both answers exist simultaneously. Look closer at the mosaic surfaces. They feel like artifacts excavated too soon, still wet with meaning we can't decode.

Parallel vienna - Bildrecht Award Winner Exhibition view of Egor Lovki’s large cross-shaped mosaic work at Bildraum 01, Vienna, featuring red, black, and white tones. Presented as part of the Friday Dispatch Vienna focus by Catapult — Egor Lovki, Bildrecht Sound Artist Award winner (in Collaboration with Parallel Vienna), on view at Bildraum 01, Vienna. Exhibition focus in our Friday Dispatch – Vienna spotlight on Bildraum 01. | Image © Catapult.

If time runs linear, actions should yield expected outcomes. Lovki proposes otherwise. They become part of experience: openings, fractures, shifts.

Not every goal manifests. Some become risks. Some become nothing. That tension, where the smile happens but understanding doesn't, is where we actually live.

WHY THIS MATTERS NOW

Lovki proves that ambivalence isn't weakness, it's material. Work doesn't need to resolve to be rigorous.

Detail of Egor Lovki’s mosaic work from the exhibition “I Smiled but Misunderstood” at Bildraum 01, Vienna, showing an abstract composition of black, white, blue, and red tesserae with painted surface elements — Detail view, **Egor Lovki, “I Smiled but Misunderstood,” at Bildraum 01**, Vienna. Mosaic composition in black, white, blue, and red tones. | Image © Catapult – Friday Dispatch.

In a moment obsessed with clarity and optimization, this exhibition asks: what if misunderstanding is where meaning actually happens?

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Egor Lovki was awarded the Parallel Vienna | Bildrecht YOUNG ARTIST Award 2024. His practice investigates cultural memory, temporal structures, and the materiality of expectation through moasic-textile-based installations.

Egor Lovki on Instagram