The beginning is two paintings ‘He’ and ‘She’, which depict the images of the ancestors of mankind. After that, it seemed to me that this idea about the human and his various types could be developed. So, the idea to make a series of works was born.
Not only Adam and Eve, but also others such as ‘Red-Haired Girl’, ‘Potato Cannon’, LadySteampunk and ‘Ruslan’ are my contemporaries. At some point, I got caught up in all these people, and I painted them. That is how the exhibition project ‘He, She and They’ appeared.
I wanted to portray contemporaries in a simplified iconic form, close to the sign. A series of paintings does not represent realistic images, although there are specific portraits of recognizable people. The depicted characters are symbols of my generation. Each image speaks for itself. I encrypted something in some of them. But, an attentive viewer can look at the pointing signs and recognize them. These portraits express my personal attitude to the human, to painting and to life. My conscious decision is not to sign the paintings. However, I am in my works as their author.
Each painting has its own history. For example, my work ‘Potato Cannon’ is dedicated to the ‘art hooligan’ who, during the opening of my exhibition ‘Prospect’, brought a bag of potatoes and poured out in front of those present. It was a surprise for everyone. No one knew what to do with it. I organized the exhibition ‘Art Bulba’ at one time in the art gallery of the University of Culture. Perhaps, after a while, he thus decided to express his attitude to that exhibition? And, I decided to make this young man the hero of this picture.
For any artist, the impression of what he sees is one of the sources of creative inspiration. So, I remember a red-haired girl with a white, almost porcelain face, like the Irish at one of the exhibitions in the Palace of Arts. I discreetly photographed her, and I painted the portrait. Maybe, she will recognize herself on the canvas? I was impressed by a brave and beautiful motorcyclist from the Angirls Club rushing through the streets of the city. So, the image of a girl in a helmet appeared.
Each painting in the series is dominated by its own color: purple, green, orange... This is no coincidence. The portraits can be combined like colored cubes. It is possible to form interesting mosaics from them, thereby complicating their meanings. Each painting is a part of a decorative composition. Today, I offer you this exposure option as one of the possible ones in the Art Cafe.
