"I’m flying into the clouds"

From September 22 to October 22, 2017 EAST MEETS WEST GALLERY presents at the ARTPLAY Design Center a photo-acrylic romance “Fly Into the Clouds”.

Three authors Petr Grigoryev, Olga Polesovschikova and Vasilisa Lipatova participate in the exhibition. They will present four different types of art to the viewer: painting and graphics - artist Peter Grigoryev, photography - photographer Olga Polesovschikova, plastic art (sculpture and objects) - Vasilisa Lipatova.

For his anniversary show, Peter chose the topic of the spiritual connection of man with heaven. For him, heaven is not only the theme of his work, but also the kingdom of heaven. The same topic is devoted to many works from the Kamchatka series by photographer Olga Polesovschikova, who also seeks special spirituality in the sky: peace inherent in the Buddhist worldview, peace and self-absorption. She possesses to a large extent the vision and thinking of an artist working in gouache, pastel or acrylic because she looks into the lens at the landscape, like a canvas.

“Everything that happens in our earthly life happens under the sky or against its background. In the afternoon, the sky not only physically closes the huge black and glimmering stars universe from us physically, but also becomes a stage for luxurious cloudy “performances”. Pictures of various cloudy “representations” give the contemplating artist great inspiration and joy. In the clouds there is freedom, music, spatial aspirations and collisions ”(P. Grigoriev).

Grigoryev’s multilayered, textured, pasty easel works of the late 90s and early 2000s gave way to light “watercolor” often conventional, sometimes almost abstract works of recent years. According to M. Chegodaeva, "… the" flesh "of his work is not about how naturally transmitted nature. "Flesh" - the painting itself, playing in many shades, literally glowing from the inside. Colors vibrate, flow, move; the surface of the canvas lives, changes depending on what angle of view, under what lighting you look at the picture. The power of color, light, texture of brush strokes gives the impression of an amazing, fantastic world woven from paints. Grigoriev’s painting is almost not reproducible in reproductions; you can’t translate it into a mosaic or into a wall mural. In its texture there is something from weaving threads, from tapestries, carpets… "

Impressionism born of Paris and its spirit continue to live in the works of Peter Grigoriev, dedicated to heaven and the kingdom of heaven.

The photographs of Olga Polesovschikova attract the author’s eye: the inherent monochrome and unique image. In one case, it contrasts and graphically separates the firmament from the sky, as if dividing them into two alien objects, in the other case, on the contrary, it emphasizes the vastness of space, where the earth and sky are combined into one endless fantastic landscape.

On the one hand, Polesovschikova uses fine art techniques, and on the other hand, typical photography techniques, in which increasing the detail of an object or landscape makes it possible to reach effects comparable to hyperrealism, and the ratio of light and shadow, density and discharged air become the main artistic building techniques "Pictures". “Shooting in large format implies an extreme degree of realism compared to the human eye. The camera fixes tones in a different way, it has other sharpness properties, it has one hundred percent informational content. Due to this, the large-format camera forms another type of reality, characterized by high detail and clarity, a different type of presence. " O. Polesovschikova.

The expedition to Kamchatka on the author’s life and career was also predetermined, as were the trips to Bhutan, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, and India. These places have for her a special status characteristic of Buddhism attraction, revelation and admiring. The peace inherent in the Buddhist worldview, peace and self-immersion are the best match for Kamchatka’s uninhabited landscapes.

Techno-bio-objects of Lipatova Vasilisa from the “Cosmic Parallels” series are aimed at researching and searching for common points of contact between a living natural form and mechanical structure. “The creative practice of plastic masters, expanding their boundaries, stepped beyond the traditional three-dimensional volume, forcing us to raise our eyes to the sky. In other words, modern sculpture begins to master the airspace, representing objects designed to soar above their heads. It is these unusual “heavenly” compositions that the young sculptor Vasilisa Lipatova creates. ” Svetlana Korobtsova, Irina Sedova.

Vasilisa Lipatova. Cloud. From the series Cosmic Parallels, 2017. Plastic, manual 3D printing

Currently, works from this series are exhibited at the exhibition of modern sculpture "Five Dimensions" in the New Tretyakov Gallery.

The theme chosen by the authors combined in one space different visual forms of art, which are now quite rarely adjacent to each other. It’s a pity. Art photography, visual art, and plastic art forms have both their own unique features and general artistic approaches in revealing topics, such as dramaturgy, composition, light, the choice of stylistic features of the image, the choice of material, and others.

The exhibition is open daily from 12:00 to 20:00

Free admission.