Artist Statement I

Everything is alive, and everything is in endless motion. This fascinating movement of life regardless of death excites me the most. I’m thrilled with the myriad of forces that make a living reaching for light and life. The elusive moment of state change “alive/dead” fascinates me no less. When I see life blossoming around death, disgust, hatred, and violence, I perceive it as a miracle. For me, these little sprouts of wild grass or wildflowers are brave heroes who withstand the influence of the same forces as we do. These creatures are beauty itself, they can be tender and soft as well as rough and spiny.

Melancholy and hope can be noticed in my art. Striving for hope, I refer to the image of these “brave heroes”, to their resilience and perseverance. Oscillating between abstraction and figurativeness, the works are filled with flowing sensuality, striving for chaotic dissimilarity, combining naive references to russian cosmism and its cosmic sense of immortality, at the same time as to the hopelessness, inherent in the work of Bela Tarr — a catastrophic discrepancy between the possibilities of a living being and external circumstances.

The choice of fabrics, yarns, and tempera paints as mediums, as well as the important role assigned to color, is not only a reference to tradition but also an emphasis on the resistance of the material, emphasized effort, and symbolism. This is parallel to the topic of striving for life, the impossibility of beauty without effort, no matter how easy and simple it may seem.

I share the concept of “New Sincerity”, the purpose of which is “treat old untrendy human troubles”, as Wallace claimed. I want to prove that obduracy and cynicism are not only not the one possible way out of the existing reality but also not humane, harmful, and ugly. I want to prove that the art and practice of contemplation can ease the burden of the unbearable struggle with the surrounding reality, help alleviate one’s loneliness and stop living in a noise that is wholly void of sense.

Living creatures massively destroy each other, but when trees spread their leaves and buds open regardless, I realize that all the sorrow, mourning, and grief that we experience will fade with time. But life will remain. The craving for beauty saves me, and I want it to save you.