Ekaterina Panikanova

How her book paintings work

Panikanova’s best-known works are built from arrays of open books laid side by side. She paints and draws across the exposed pages, allowing text, stains, age marks, and paper tone to remain visible beneath the image. The result is not a conventional canvas but a discontinuous surface that demands close reading from one book to the next.

Because the support already carries printed content, the paper itself becomes part of the meaning. Lines can cross gutters, faces can be interrupted by page edges, and empty areas may rely on the pale, absorbent paper of old books. The finished work often feels both assembled and fragile, as if the image could only exist through the accumulated weight of many separate volumes.

Why use vintage books?

Vintage books give Panikanova a material with history built into it. Their worn bindings, yellowed pages, and faded typography carry evidence of previous use, which shifts the work away from a neutral ground and toward an object with memory. The choice also places her practice in dialogue with printing, preservation, and the physical life of books.

That material choice matters because it changes how the image is read. Instead of hiding the support, Panikanova lets the pages remain visible, so the viewer sees image and object at once. The books are not simply surfaces to paint on; they are the structure that holds the work together.

What does it look like in practice?

In practice, Panikanova’s installations often resemble a field of open books arranged in grids or clusters, each volume contributing a segment of a larger scene. The painted subjects can range from figures and faces to animals, shadows, and dreamlike fragments, with the composition spanning multiple page spreads. From a distance, the fragments merge into a coherent picture; up close, the seams between books become obvious.

This approach gives her work a distinct rhythm. Repetition of page after page creates a visual pulse, while small variations in paper color, typography, and wear interrupt uniformity. The viewer moves between reading and seeing, noticing that the work behaves like a painting, a library object, and an installation all at once.

Why does her work matter?

Panikanova’s practice matters because it pushes painting beyond the standard rectangular support. By using books, she connects the act of image-making to circulation, storage, and historical record. The work also raises practical questions about what counts as a canvas, and how obsolete printed matter can be reused without losing its own presence.

Her method has wider relevance in contemporary art because it treats found materials as active partners rather than neutral scrap. The books carry cultural residue, while the painted image introduces new narrative or emotional charge. That combination gives the work a strong sense of time passing through matter.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Ekaterina Panikanova a painter or a book artist?

She is both, though her work is usually discussed as contemporary art or installation. Painting is central to her practice, but the support matters as much as the image. The books are not illustrations of a literary theme; they are the actual surface and structure of the work.

Does she paint directly onto the pages?

Yes. Her compositions are made directly on open pages, often across many books arranged together. Ink and paint interact with the paper, so the existing print and the marks of age remain visible in the finished piece.

What makes her work different from collage?

Collage usually combines separate materials into a new image, while Panikanova’s work relies on the book as an intact object and support. The image is built across many pages, but the books themselves remain legible as books. That tension between object and picture is one of the defining features of her practice.