In modern society, relationship patterns that once seemed acceptable now often reveal negative traits, commonly referred to as red flags. At the same time, the protection of personal space, the desire for personal comfort, and independence pushes people away from the intimacy that is commonly called love. That is, love in the form it existed before modern times is already becoming a red flag itself, presenting a paradox that we want to study. In our project, we seek healthy ways to establish strong emotional connections between partners in today's shifting reality.

 

          The artworks are extremely personal and sensual as we are working not only as an artists’ duo, but also as life partners. It makes the whole concept even more sharp as in this situation two artistic egos strive not only to coexist together peacefully, but to create a joint project about their relations.

 

          The title of the series  comes from the Turkish bubble gum of the same name (Love Is...), which was extremely popular in the post-Soviet space and Eastern Europe in the 1990-s, where we both originally come from. This gum was remembered for its original inserts, created by the New Zealand artist Kim Casali. In them, simple drawings of two partners described various situations that the couple experienced in their relationship, and each of these stories began with the words "Love Is...". We not only preserved this concept but also kept the original lettering - the font used on the inserts for the "Love is" phrase.

 

          As artists who often work with themes of the magical, medieval, alchemy, and the transcendental, we also approached this project by creating a kind of alchemical narrative. Our ten artworks are built as a kind of symbolic sequence based on the ten flavors of this gum. These flavors, which are mostly fruit-based, and their combinations create a combination of elements that we use to explain a particular state of relationships between people in a couple. The sequence of the series, from 1 to 10 (from the chocolate flavor to cola + lemon), serves as an allegory for the development of healthy romantic relationships - healthy not only in terms of reason and comfort, but also in terms of emotional depth and mutual feelings.

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         Within our collaboration, we decided to combine graphic works on paper and hand-drawn animation techniques. Modern people live in physical world and digital space, so does our project, which simultaneously exists in two dimensions: offline (graphic works on paper) and online (animation).

 

         We also turned to the aesthetics and tradition of botanical illustrations as well as medieval bestiaries: some aspects of the project are metaphorically reflected through the habits of animals, plants, insects and their interactions in nature.