On February 16th, 2025, La Lettura’s Corriere Art Collection debuts a powerful new cover by Russian artist Katerina Kovaleva: “Natura abhorret a vacuo”.
Known for her politically charged and symbolically rich work, Kovaleva presents an image that speaks to the precarious balance between good and evil. Three cherubs hold up a frame with an empty chair, a visual metaphor for the responsibility to uphold truth and integrity before darkness takes hold. Rooted in art history yet deeply relevant to today’s world, Kovaleva draws from the influence of masters like Tiepolo and Titian, using classical references to spark contemporary reflection.
The print edition hits newsstands nationwide on Sunday, February 16h. The digital collectible version, featuring a digital certificate of authenticity and a 3D rendering of the artwork, will be available starting Tuesday, February 18th.
Katerina Kovaleva: Art as Resistance and Reflection
For over three decades, Katerina Kovaleva has explored the intersection of history, memory, and power, creating work that is both visually compelling and politically charged. Born in Moscow in 1966, she studied at the Moscow Polygraphic Institute and emerged as part of the city’s underground art scene in the 1980s. Her practice spans painting, sculpture, collage, and installation, constantly interrogating how we remember, what we choose to forget, and the forces that shape those decisions.
Kovaleva’s work is deeply rooted in archival research, pulling from historical documents, propaganda, and found materials to expose the fragility of collective memory. Her 2018 retrospective Routes of Memory at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art traced these themes, while her 2021 exhibition Medical History: The Right to Rest at the Rosphoto Museum in St. Petersburg examined the decay of Soviet-era sanatoriums as a symbol of cultural and ideological collapse.
Her career has taken her from Moscow to Antarctica, where she participated in the 2017 Antarctic Biennale, creating Antarctic Diary aboard a research vessel in the Drake Passage. That same year, her work was shown at the 57th Venice Biennale, reinforcing her position as a critical voice in contemporary art. A recipient of grants from the Ministries of Culture in Russia and Austria, Kovaleva’s work is held in both private and institutional collections worldwide.
Drawing from art history while challenging modern political narratives, Kovaleva’s work exists at the edge of tradition and subversion. Whether referencing the grandeur of Tiepolo and Titian or dismantling the myths of power, her art resists easy categorization, demanding that we confront the complexities of our past and the uncertainties of our present.
Confronting Chaos: Katerina Kovaleva’s New Cover
Launching with the February 16th cover of La Lettura’s Corriere Art Collection, Katerina Kovaleva presents a striking new work that merges allegory, politics, and art history into a single powerful image. Created specifically for La Lettura, “Natura abhorret a vacuo” (Nature Abhors a Void) is a meditation on the fragile balance between good and evil, urging viewers to take an active role in shaping the moral landscape of our time.
Her work often engages with historical memory and the weight of human responsibility, pulling from archival research and classical influences to examine contemporary crises. This cover extends that inquiry, confronting the viewer with an urgent reflection on the state of the world.
Reflecting on Kovaleva’s work, Corriere della Sera’s Art Director Gianluigi Colin remarks, “Like a surreal Rococo painting, three cherubs hold up a frame containing an empty chair: for Russian artist Katerina Kovaleva (Moscow, 1966), this is a symbolic call to cultivate the idea of Good. That chair must not be claimed by Evil. For the artist, the journey must be guided by the spirit of truth, so that the "abomination of desolation" does not take hold. This issue is also a collector’s edition: starting Tuesday, the cover will become a digital artwork, complete with a QR code. Kovaleva contemplates our present reality, the chaos that seems to have overtaken the contemporary world, and the only way to counter the “destruction” afflicting entire populations, is a renewed awareness. A complex theme also explored in a recent exhibition in Venice (curated by Olga Strada), pointedly titled Limbo, evoking the anguished state of suspension that grips all of humanity. Through her politically engaged painting, Kovaleva invokes mythology and the great masters, from Tiepolo to Titian, compelling us to reflect. And to fight. So that, in the end, Evil does not prevail.”