Maxim Kireev. The possibilities of the impossible "MAX.IMP.ART" Dedication of homage to Esher "

From November 23 to December 04, Maxim Kireev’s personal exhibition “Dedication of homage to Esher”, dedicated to the outstanding Dutch graphic artist M.K., will be exhibited in the halls of the Lavrushinsky 15 PAX Coordination Center. To esher.

This year marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of Maurits Cornelis Escher, an outstanding Dutch graphic artist whose impossible art, which received the status of classic op art and geometric surrealism, stimulated the masters of the second half of the 20th century to creative experiments. Geometric rapport compositions, widely used in textiles of the 1920-1930s, were reworked by Escher and constituted an independent field of optical art. In the 70s, they served as the basis for the development of fractal graphics - a combination of identical elements. Escher’s graphic series, his images of fantastic landscapes and structures, greatly influenced the aesthetics of modern digital geometric abstraction and kinetic works in 3-D space.

Graphic artist and photographer Maxim Kireev, paying tribute to the brightest representative of imre art, turned to the art of Maurits Escher as part of the aesthetics of the 21st century, armed with new visual means of digital technology. At the exhibition “MAX. IMP ART”Dedication of homage to Esher” Maxim Kireev demonstrates several series of abstract compositions, each of which is based on the principles of Escher’s construction. It should be noted that all the author’s art compositions included in the series represent finished easel works that possess, along with a decorative abstract, plot basis.

A series of classic art compositions that develop the theme of rapport and fractals are the original works of 2013-2018: from Iron Flower (Iron Flower, 2013) and Brith of a New Form (Birth of a New Form, 2014) to “Mama, you are here ”(Mom, you are here, 2018) and“ Snowflake ”(Snowflakes, 2018). The possibilities of computer modeling allowed the author to create a series of new works based on such rapport and fractal works, which have extraordinary dynamics and expressiveness, such as “Iron Dream’s” (Iron Dreams, 2013), “Golden Cage” (Golden Cage, 2016), “New Religion ”(New Religion, 2018),“ The Stainless Steel Trap ”(Stainless Steel Trap, 2018) and others.

The experimental work of the last year was the series “ARCH & TECTONICS” (ARCHITECTONICS), “Helix” (Spiral), “Color Story” (Color History) and “Play of Light” (Game of Light). In them, Maxim Kireev develops the topic of transformations of visual architectural and subject images to create independent works that carry a powerful emotional message. Unlike art compositions of the ARCHITECTONICA series, which dynamically interpret the architectural environment of Moscow and Rotterdam, the works of the Spiral series immerse us in the world of fantastic objects born of centrifugal force. The architectural compositions of the “Game of the Light” series are close in their architectural basis, where the author achieves emotional expressiveness by minimal means. Graphic and coloristic minimalism demonstrate the composition of the series “Color History”.

The graphic works of Maxim Kireev presented at the exhibition develop the direction of surrealistic allegories that Escher addressed in the 1940s. They are distinguished by the laconicism of the graphic language and the originality of modern artistic solutions.

The exhibition of Maxim Kireev’s hommages, presented in the Fine Arts Hall of the Volga branch of the Russian Academy of Arts “Lavrushinsky 15”, was compiled as a sign of respect to the master of logical and plastic paradoxes Maurits Cornelis Escher and will continue the traditions of the great artist under the new conditions, emphasizing their relevance in the 21st century.

Alexander Shklyaruk
art critic and art critic