In the Wilkinson Gallery project space, Anna Parkina has bought together the work of 6 of her contemporaries. Similarly, the artists’ work can be seen as evidence of an event, rather than an event itself.
Instead of sending out straightforward messages, the selection of works evoke a sense of another time of place. The strong visual imagery will absorb the viewer’s conscious attention, while the works also conjure feelings that will stay with the viewer on a phenomenal level.
The purity of these feelings can be comparable to the experience of looking at an icon. One does not have to be religious in order to experience a sacred feeling created by a mutual tension between form and content. This is what Kandinsky and Malevich sought for, but their explorations in to pure and non-utilitarian form resulted in an escape from visual reality. By bringing these works together, Parkina attempts this from a new visual angle. The artworks presented in the show are not trying to avoid a straightforward interpretation, but are most interested in deciphering the silent space beyond this.
The title of the show Wherever They Fell was derived from a quotation from the monument of an unknown warrior. The phrase is free from any historical, geographical, religious, or political facts. It powerfully evokes a sense of sorrow, honour, duty and unity but does not belong to any specific field.
The paper works by Roman Ass border closely to the areas of allegory and landscape. He often uses handmade paint and lets it flow from one into another, creating dynamic compositions that evoke a multiple sensory experience like a forgotten memory. Roman Ass was born in 1983 in Kropotkin, lives and works in Moscow.
Andrew Gilbert’s paper works are pseudo-illustrations of an ongoing story. Often his works are related to wars and its consequences: perverted pride of the conquest and humiliating enslavement of the defeated. Each piece contains an alarm that will not be heard. Gilbert was born in Edinburgh in 1980 and lives and works in Berlin.
Ludovic Boulard le Fur’s wooden wall sculptures show multiple layers. His sculptures are something between primitive comic strip (from the time when people didn’t have the means of communication we do today) and a ritual partition that is considered to protect Sacraments. Boulard le Fur was born in 1981 and lives and works in Paris.
Andrey Rejet is not interested in images made by hand but is interested in images that are created in spite of the human will such as blots of paint on the streets. In this show, he presents emblems read from the random shapes of blots – an installation of 6 circular objects reminiscent of ancient bas-reliefs. Rejet was born in 1976 in Leningrad, lives and works in Moscow.
Dominic Wood is an author whose theory is related to the study of Universal law. His work is a practical test where his own experiences confirm or disclose the laws of Universe. The sculpture and paintings in the show do not represent themselves as subject matter but display traces of their own creation. Wood was born in 1974 in Melbourne. He lives and works in Berlin.
Dimitry Zabavin, according to his words, ‘only needs three things from art: that never existed, that never will exist, that is impossible.’ His installation is open to interpretation and could be garments with non-human markings, cultish headdresses, or pedestals for trophy-like relics from elsewhere. Zabavin was born in 1985 in Moscow, lives and works in Moscow.