In his new project, Evgeniy Antufiev turns to archaic forms. Scythian sculptures, which Antufiev reproduces in wood and encrusts with amber, are unidentified objects suspended somewhere between art and ritual. The choice of amber is motivated by the stone’s rich history: whether in the ruins of antique polices, tombs of Egyptian pharaohs, Babylonian temples, Roman palaces — amber was an indisputable symbol of luxury, the object of religious cults, and the subject of cutthroat trade.
Just as ancient insects frozen in amber persisted beyond the time in which they actually lived, so the images with which the author works continue to exist outside their historical and temporal context.
Few contemporary artists could allow themselves the modernist luxury of searching for and using materials that are so difficult to work with and expensive to purchase. And almost no one manages to create the panoply of unique textures Evgeniy Antufiev includes in each new project.
Curated by Maria Kramar