
7pre / Object in Transit - {$M} Drawing
Leni Smoragdova
Drawing on paper
Original Artwork, 70 x 100 cm
smoragdova
About Leni Smoragdova
Leni Smoragdova {$M} is a multidisciplinary artist and the creator of Transaction Art, a conceptual universe exploring anonymity, identity, and the interplay of social phenomena. Born into a Jewish family and raised in Odessa, Smoragdova moved to London in 2004 to study at Central Saint Martins, where she began developing her unique artistic vision. Her work delves into the commercialization of art and the invisible forces that shape human interactions, often through the lens of collective authorship and anonymity.
Leni Smoragdova {$M} is not only the artist’s original name but also, through Transaction Art, a collective identity for numerous anonymous participants. This duality seamlessly merges individual originality with the anonymity of those who choose to remain invisible, forming a distinctive brand. Anonymity is central to this concept, embodied in the term Hidden Faces.About the Product
Encapsulated Beast in Transaction
A hybrid creature—a ledger’s fauna born from system error and contractual form—stands confined within a stark, geometric capsule. Its organic, marker-drawn body is bound and defined by the very architecture that contains it.
This being is not merely illustrated; it is recorded. The transparent chamber does not just hold it, but references the larger systems that quantify and hold us all. The work meditates on the space between life and transaction, between being and a record of ownership. It questions the boundaries of obligation and the shape of what is owed.
Locating the beast within the circuitry of value, this piece renders the body as an account, figuration as a contract, and existence itself as a fundamental exchange.












