This time it all started well but ended badly... shocking... but I learned a lot.
Untitled. Red, 2022, recycled newspapers, cardboard, acrylic, water-based fixatives, plaster on plywood, 88 x 88 x 12 cm.
...After my Solo show in Berlin, all artworks from the gallery came back with damages (everything happened unexpectedly, the gallery simply put me in front of the fact that I needed to take the works back).
Pieces of paper were ripped out or just dangling. From the horror I saw, I fell into depression trying to understand whether I was doing something wrong, or whether my work was too brittle or the young gallery has no idea how to handle this type of artworks.
For each of the works I build boxes for transportation, and I even developed instructions for opening and installing. Can be seen here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vedr-UWNqJ9PU1dHbb5BQDQKF3beE52n/view?usp=share_link
Yes, I noticed at the very beginning that the gallery, after one of the exhibitions, fixed the work in only one corner instead of four.
But the art pieces kept returning with serious damages, and the last ones arrived completely destroyed.
The gallery sent me pictures of one of the pieces they bought from me, and they said it was cracked.
As nothing like this has ever happened before I offered to either fix or replace the work and asked to examine it because I needed to understand what happened. Was the room very dry? Or the cat jumped on the work? But I was refused, and just all the works came back in this miserable form.
Also, the gallery, against the rules of the contract, demanded that I pay for the transportation of the works. But, unfortunately, this whole exhibition cost me a lot of money initially, so I did not have the opportunity to re-assume the cost of transportation.
As a result, I officially applied to this gallery, they studied my work and ideas and accepted me. We signed a contract with clear terms of the parties. My exhibition was great, people were delighted with my works. But as time passed, the gallery could not sell any of them and accused me of poor quality and demanded additional payment contrary to the rules of the contract and returned all artworks damaged or even destroyed.
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So, I started reworking my paint mix and searching for new opportunities.
Firstly, I understood this from the very beginning, and now I have consciously accepted that my works are fragile. I like their imperfection and perfection in one. They need to be protected and cared for, treated with love and care, and they will create an incredible state of colour around them. I feel like them. These works are an extension of me. And my life is fragile and vulnerable, and with a caring attitude to it, it [life] gives me a sense of colour and emotion.
Abyss, 2022, recycled newspapers, acrylic paints, plaster, water-based fixatives, cardboard, wood, 150 x 88 x 13 cm.
Secondly, I researched the market for amplifiers and seals. Since I mix gypsum with acrylic paints, it can probably dry out the texture. But at the same time, gypsum gives a slight hardness when dried, and while working with it, it is easier to manipulate sheets of newspaper. So I started testing additional additives and pastes for acrylic paints. But, apparently, I again have to wait a year to really complete the test as now all paintings and their quality looks perfect. And yet, the new works are harder, although they still remain fragile. Logically, such synthetic additives bind the structures of paper, plaster and acrylic and make them more elastic, which will prevent cracking. In addition, I killed most of the old works or reworked them with the seal cover.
Third, I don't want to move away from the idea of recycling. In general, the concept of remaking something already unnecessary into something that is endowed with many meanings seems right to me in a world of frantic production and unbridled consumption. At least I will not buy some of the materials for my life activities. In my working process: newspapers for recycling or other building materials which were already used, and paints for painting walls, rather than separately produced specifically for artists, which reduces the costs and raw materials for new production.
Untitled. White, 2022, recycled newspapers, acrylic, plaster on canvas, 65 x 45 x 9 cm.
With such a detailed disassembly of my work, I started to deepen my understanding of colour.
I started focusing only on the pure interpretation of colour. I noticed that not all combinations that I would like to achieve I can manage to perform in my works. Sometimes I have limited spray paint colour combinations but I need more. Also in one of the experiments, I realized that sometimes I don’t "finish" the colour. It's like I can't get it up to the point. And I need not stop but continue to mix. The difficulty lies in the fact that in this technique you cannot mix unlimitedly, you can ruin everything at any time. I realized how difficult to compose a colour composition. Sometimes there is an idea of something in my head, but in reality, the colours do not fit. Maybe I'll explore only certain shades of red or blue and identify variations and colour themes.
Cordiality, 2022, recycled newspapers, acrylic, plaster on canvas, 67 x 47 x 10 cm.
In my work, colour tells stories. Stories are set either by the title or by the simple state of the viewer. And the last one is more fascinating to me. The viewer is left alone with his emotions and art piece on the wall.
Ambiguousness, 2022, recycled newspapers, acrylic, water-based fixatives, plaster on canvas, 67 x 47 x 10 cm.
Since there is no verbal or figurative narrative here, the colour field begins to communicate directly with the viewer's strong, recent or sore emotions. In such a situation, the pure perception of the object, the play of light, shape, and size of the work is an associative perception, but a sensual one. In the words of Rothko or Kandinsky, one could say that there is a perception by the soul. It is this perception and invocation of the most intimate emotions that is catharsis for me through art. There is a rethinking of what is bothering or what arises quickly without thinking, acceptance of it or denial. In any case, this is a reassessment of events and the emotions associated with them.
Frontier, 2022, recycled newspapers, acrylic, plaster on canvas and wood, 40 x 40 x 7 cm.
In compositions, as a rule, dark is heavy and located at the bottom. Lighter shades are light and floaty at the top. Also, colder shades are located at the top, and warmer at the bottom. The combination of warm and cold, dark and light, is infused with a natural beginning.
Artwork talk about the relationship between different. Combinations of opposites. How do the connection, pairing, and balance happen between one with the other? Why does a particular colour reveal an idea, theme, or emotion? These are combinations of men and women, denial and consent, day and night, love and hate, yin and yang energies. It is so difficult to find the truth in modern realities. Where is good and evil? Where are the truth and lie? What is right and wrong? This is not an answer to questions, this is reasoning and searching for answers.
In addition to all the above improvements, I tried to make a large frame for work, following the model of small ones.
It's about green, 2022, recycled newspapers, acrylic, water-based fixatives, plaster on canvas and wood, 74 x 94 x 10 cm.
Yes, such work can be put on the floor and is less likely to damage it, but this is a completely different feeling. Colour does not exist on its own, it is now limited.
Parallel to this process, I needed to make a piece on order. It was one of the firm's figurative logos. I must say that this was not an easy task, as the small elements proved difficult to manipulate. But, although I liked the result, I was once again convinced that the figurative embodiment distracts from the essence of the material itself.
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