The project includes a monumental painting, a stand (a golden cube), and a diptych of canvases. The first part of the artwork was a 'golden square' mural created in Kaliningrad and named "Complexity and simplicity". It has been strengthened by two canvases and an exhibition stand – the golden cube. The "hidden" concept of the artwork is based on the principles of human behaviour.
Concept №1. Complexity and simplicity
In creative cognition, as in life, people complicate everything. Skills and opinion come only after time. Brevity is not the sister of talent, but a consequence of experience.
The first thing to pay attention to in this artwork is the square – the stable and permanent basis for most things. The colour is not chosen randomly either. The intention was to match the incompatible: gold as a sign of wealth and opulence, in the context of street art, which until recently we regarded as opposing and marginal. Gold in the urban environment is also used in spiritual places, hinting at a new 'religion' around street art.
The technique of illusory layering of the plane completes the concept, immersing the viewer in an awareness of a complex structure behind each simple surface.
By walking around the golden cube, viewers go deeper into layers and meanings, but eventually they get out.
Concept №2. No freedom, no choice
There are many experiments that prove there is no 'freedom of choice'. All of them are based on biological, social, and other factors of human behaviour. Freedom of choice is, in fact, only "freedom" within a deliberately defined border. Any human activity is limited by something or someone.
Novice artists who 'spoiled' my work didn't realise they had become part of an experiment in which they had no choice. They did not draw beyond the canvas – the proposed rules of the game. Next time, it is worth considering whether there is any freedom of choice at all, or whether we act within someone's framework.
The book: Wall Elements II
The exhibition 'Wall Elements' presented the book Wall Elements II by the photographer Alex Partola – the second book about Russian graffiti and street artists. Alex covered most of Russia, from its extreme western point to the Pacific Ocean, documenting the work of the artists he found most visually striking and prolific. All participants were invited to create artworks on any topic, in the technique they preferred at the moment.
