Comments to some paintings
from the website authors

Still-life Breakfast is made in realistic manner with working out and glazing of smallest details. The artist showed that modern utilitarian goods of mass production can be as picturesque as luxurious objects in still-lifes of Dutch masters.

It's interesting that Soviet censorship understood the painting in the other way, as contradistinction of socialistic and capitalistic ways of life, and prohibited to exhibit it. So, they have seen what they were afraid of.

More about the painting

Among the early works it is possible to note the painting Pravda (Truth). There is an unfolded piece of the main Soviet newspaper. By the date (December 1980) and the title it's possible to see, that this is the issue from where the government degree about growth in prosperity of Soviet people was published. There is 100 grams piece of the cheapest liver sausage over it, symbolising the era of total shortage. The painter draws an original parallel. In Soviet time a price of good often was written by pencil on paper. The digits in the margins mean 5 kopecks - the real price of the sausage, the newspaper and the government degree.

More about the painting

The picture Dead Day was painted in 1981 at the height of the Cold war. Regretfully, it is still timely nowadays.

During the whole history people were separated by their territory, nationality, religion, politic, property, ideology, etc. This separation led to confrontation. Confrontation produced conflicts. Cities were destroyed, culture suffered losses. But conflicts were local and the life continued.

The last century brought groundbreaking changes. The confrontation became global. Technologies developed so rapidly that weapons invented by the mankind can annihilate its creators.

If the global conflict happens there will be no winners or losers. After it there will be nobody at all. There will be no After. If lack of human responsibility leads to the planetary catastrophe not only watches will stop but also the Time.

In 1987-88 the series of paintings In Memory of Victims were created. It is devoted to the tragedy of Soviet history - mass repressions period in the 30-s. The works focus on dramatic nature of happened, scale of repressions, their total character. The artist shows that the political system based on fear and violence leads to nowhere.

Not all inventions of the mankind bring progress. In totalitarian societies one people for oppression of others started to build prison camps. Even when all prisoners were released, they did not disappear. Until the reasons of their appearance are removed from the society, these cruel instruments can come back any time.

In this work the artist tried to imagine huge scale of Soviet repressions. Death of one human is a tragedy. Totalitarian system left millions of victims.

On first crosses it is possible to recognize names and years of lives. But most of crosses are nameless. People were sentenced to be hold incommunicado, and nobody knew their location, and were they alive or not at all.

The pavement goes to nowhere. The way to communism proclaimed by the Soviet ideology in reality for many millions became a road of death.

Put your attention to the sky. Wind of time dispersed leaden clouds. But this lesson of history should be remembered forever, otherwise the clouds can be gathered again.

It's easy to limit freedom. It's possible to seize property, impoverish a person, put into prison and even execute. But no totalitarian system is able to take away the freedom to think and to yearn to be free.

If you look to the ground floor windows of the red house, it is an ordinary residential building. But to the upper floors the house transforms into a prison.

The red house symbolizes the Soviet society in 30-s. Atmosphere of total fear, suppression of dissidence, mutual delations, overall control - all this transformed the country into one huge prison.

In the beginning of 50-s the grilles were removed from the windows of the red house. But to rebuild it completely it will be needed a lot of time.

This painting can characterise the public conscience of millions citizens of post-Soviet countries in the beginning of 90-s. Habitual way of life, that existed many years and seemed to be firm crashed down. Ideals and values sometimes were replaced by the opposite. It seemed that only the glass, human companion in happiness and grief, in silence of solitude and noisy crew, remained the same.

This painting symbolises the human society at one of the growth stages. Heads of the figures are not visible. The population doesn't want to think by themselves. This ability is replaced by big ears - intention to listen and follow any instructions.

The totalitarian society like a stock-breeder forms a certain kind of people. It is based on mutual control. Espial and delation become the essence and meaning of life of the state machine's mere cogs.

In the civil society people are able not only to look but also to see. Not only to listen, but also to hear. And the most important - to think.