Regina Gallery presents a solo-show “East of Eden. Sequel” by the Russian artist Maria Serebriakova. This exhibition is a continuation of the project which was held in the gallery 2 years ago. There are the new pictural and graphic works of the author from the series “Ideation(s)”, “History of Dreams” and “Memory Traces” on view. Maria Serebriakova presented these series on the first part of the exhibition in 2014. For the sequel-exposition she created the new art pieces which reflect her current searchings in landscape painting. Melancholic monochromatic landscapes by the hand of Serebriakova invite viewer to tranquil meditation and end-of-year review. These pieces extend an aura of serenity in the gallery and actually harmonize the space.
Serebriakova is the artist who follows ‘artistic nomadism’ movement and metaphorise her wandering into artistic gesture. On the pieces she recorded her observations from the bypath to Eden which are, according to her, an incarnation of the unconscious. Her landscapes originate across her personal experience and poetic fancies: there are the space meditation, the researches of the natural landscapes which are reclaimed by human just in his imagination.
The artist refers to a traditional genre — a ’landscape of fantasy’ which is uncommon for contemporary art practices. The last striking revelations on this field were made by romanticists and expressionists: their awe of tameless welter — of rocks, solid cliffs, forestlands, waters — is shared by Serebriakova.
Not coincidentally, the artist chose a technique which is allied to grisaille — the term for painting executed entirely in monochromatic color scheme, also with inclusion of artistic effects creating optical illusions. So, with compositional color pattern containing tints of gray, brown, white and black, Maria Serebriakova establishes a painted monument to forces of nature.
According to the artist’s interpretation, this genre is throw back to the things which took place in ХХ-th century art: it is the ’landscape of fantasy’ after abstract painting, modern and postmodern philosophy, psychoanalysis. However, it is not an urgent need to find all these inner rings — an empathy is enough.
