Exhibition "Forget the familiar language". Alexey Kanis (sculpture). Gleb Gavrilenkov (painting)

April 19 in the Arts Square Gallery online gallery Mobius presents a joint exhibition of Alexei Kanis and Gleb Gavrilenkov "Forget the familiar language."

From April 19 to May 8, the Arts Square Gallery in St. Petersburg will host a joint exhibition by the sculptor Aleksey Kanis and artist Gleb Gavrilenkov “Forget the familiar language”. The curator of the project is the founder of the Mobius online gallery, Ekaterina Malakhova.

The modern intellectual space is a literary-centric European narrative. The founding elements of this tradition are books, stories, stories and quotes. It was they who taught us to look for the interconnectedness of plots in the world, isolate key details from the flow of information and, having discovered them, instantly add semantic puzzles. In such a cultural system, it is extremely difficult to consciously drop out of the narrative canvas, abandon the search for associations and primary sources and stop reading signs and their meanings in any way - in a text, picture, Internet meme or friendly dialogue. An attempt to abstract oneself means a conscious renunciation of all previous history. Is such a gesture possible in the existing tradition?

The works of Alexei Kanis and Gleb Gavrilenkov manage to balance on the border of recognizable cultural codes and total abstraction. The authors provide the viewer with the opportunity to find themselves where the path of perception bifurcates. One of the scenarios is to stay on the beaten track and discern in the sculptures the classic ancient Greek prototypes from the heroes of myths and legends to the meander ornament. And in painting - to try to read the characters resembling graffiti or Arabic script. One way or another - acting on this scenario, you can stay inside the tradition.

Another way is to become a foreigner, forget a familiar language, and forget how to read it. Perhaps this is not easy, but behind the liberation from familiar images lies the entrance to the meditative space located on the other side of rationality. Having overcome the craving to recognize symbols, you can find yourself inside other, abstract worlds, where the visible is devoid of practical purpose.

The works at the exhibition are ambivalent - they are conductors of classical imagery and, at the same time, portals to the abstract cavities of this world.

Alexey Kanis (born 1983) is a sculptor living and working in St. Petersburg. Graduate of the Art and Industry Academy. A. L. Stieglitz, Member of the Union of Artists of Russia. Since 2007, a regular participant in international exhibitions and sculptural symposia. The author of 12 monumental sculptures installed in Russia, China, Iran, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Finland, Denmark and Cyprus.

Gleb Gavrilenkov (b. 1982) is a St. Petersburg artist, participant of numerous exhibitions, including in the Russian Museum and in the Erarta Museum of Modern Art as part of the parallel program of the Biennale of Manifest 10. He was presented at the Art Basel Miami fair and at the Vladey auction. Works are in private collections in Russia, USA, France, Italy, Finland, Spain, Switzerland, China, Japan, Georgia, Australia.