Exhibition of Catherine Belyavskaya "13 Orchids for the Empress"

Planted an orchid, / but I did not plant wormwood / Orchid was born, / wormwood was born next to it
Bo Ju-i (772-846)

Thirteen orchids in thirteen scenes - still images of a terrible thriller! The new project by Ekaterina Belyavskaya has literary and historical implications. It is based on the biography of the last Chinese empress named Tsy Xi (1836 - 1908), who ruled for about 50 years. Tsy Xi from her youth was distinguished by a beautiful appearance and a pleasant, sonorous voice, for which the people called her a small Orchid. The biography of Tsy Xi can easily be considered as a scenario of a terrible thriller, because under the angelic appearance hid a monster burned with three passions - this is a thirst for absolute, eternal power, a thirst for love joys and enrichment. However, these three passions of Qi Si are quite relevant today. At the end of her reign, Tsy Xi received a middle name for her cruelty and greed - Dragon.

The metamorphosis of the beautiful Orchid in the cruel Dragon is represented by Catherine Belyavskaya. The scene is Forbidden City. The painting “Screen” is in the foreground the magnificent inflorescence of white orchids as a symbol of youth and purity. However, the girl protruding from behind the screen is in a BDSM costume, and a toothy dragon is hiding behind the flowers, he is also a toothless cheerful kid on the left wing. Young Tsy Xi dreams of a power to which she can approach only by becoming a concubine of the Emperor. "Garden" - beautiful flower girls frolic in the imperial park, at a distance Tsi Xi is considering a cunning plan on how to get around them all and get to the monarch, the evil dragon of her designs is gaining strength - the painting "Little Dragon" in which tiger flowers appear in the background. With the help of slander, poison and bribery, Tsy Xi was admitted to the Emperor’s body, the maidservants dress her in a beautiful dress - the picture “Dress”, under the dress all the same sado-maso linen, and in the foreground - sprawling, predatory dragon rings, white orchids recede in the background, black flowers appear in front. Tsi Xi charmed the emperor and subjugated her power, the monarch gives her earrings - a picture of “Earrings”. Subsequently, Tsy Xi, filling the bags with jewelry, only fingers them with greedy fingers, and wears only these earrings. Then Tsi Xi consecutively kills the beautiful concubines, and the supposedly born heir, and his wife, and the empress, and here she is alone near the emperor, only a broken branch of these flowers reminds of a small Orchid - the painting “Broken Orchid”, fear gripped the palaces of the Forbidden City, in the foreground is the eyesless face of a girl with a sealed mouth. The emperor dies through a strange death, and Tsy Xi, proclaiming himself empress, reigns supreme - paintings “Armchair”, “Hairstyle”, “Kimono”.

Strong young beauties appear near Tsy Xi, each of them, having satiated the greedy empress with his caresses, disappears forever - the picture “Cigarette”. In addition to sex, the empress is also interested in photography, she takes pictures of the palaces and parks of the Forbidden City, never once in her life leaving its borders, but only driving around on it with a tricycle - the paintings “Photos” and “Bicycle”. None of the paintings can be seen the true face of the heroine - all images of people are arbitrary. Only in the last painting Belyavskaya depicts a genuine dying portrait of the Empress - an old woman looks at herself in the mirror, black orchids erase from her memory the past time - the painting "Black Orchids".

Despite the gloom of the plot, Belyavskaya’s paintings delight with luxury and beauty. It cannot be otherwise, because this is painting! As a Chinese artist and painting theorist Shi-tao (XYII century) wrote in his treatise on painting, the initial beginning and impulse of painting is joy. For an emotional person, beauty is the surest source of joy. Shi-tao wrote about the rules for the artist - “his rule is in the absence of rules. This is the supreme Rule. ” Without any rules, Belyavskaya clashes different styles in her canvases. The lush orchid flower is not only one of the four flower symbols in Chinese culture, it is also the central flower of the luxurious Art Nouveau style of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Looking at orchids and other objects in the artist’s paintings, one involuntarily recalls the short era of this magnificent style. But the artist Belyavskaya depicts people in a minimalistic way - with a black contour pattern without filling with color. People leave, epochs, styles leave, and flowers still bloom in the gardens, sometimes dragons walk in them.

Irina Filatova.