REGINA gallery presents a personal exhibition by Sergey Pakhomov "Living Water".
Sergey Pakhomov on his new project: "This exhibition is absolutely Russian, it is a fair! It combines incompatible things: video, installation, photography, painting. A very difficult task was given".
According to the artist, nowadays you can only bring epic things or a miracle into arts. In this project Pakhom refers to the theme of living water – a fluid that gives life, i.e. blood. It is exactly the energy, which exists in that fluid, makes the existence of a human possible. That is why blood is identified with life itself. Red colour as a symbol of blood dominates in the installation created from glass jars and a series of photographs. Long since, people attributed healing properties to red objects. For example, in many rites and incantations, as well as in folk medicine, bright red objects – ribbons, threads, clothing, flowers – were used for healing. There is also a generally accepted expression from the Bible – “to shed blood" – which means to commit murder. Loss of blood for a person is fatal. When the audience finds themselves in the gallery’s space filled with blood-red objects, it seems like they are in the abode of a psychic healer, who treats all physical and mental illnesses.
"Living Water" also refers to Russian folklore. In Russian folk tales, magical properties of "living water" are used for one’s revival. People have always had a clue that water plays a key role in the origin and maintenance of life on the planet. Therefore, people often assigned a special role to water in fairy tales.
New project continues to develop the artist's favourite idea, which inspired him to create the exhibition "CHARGED WITH GOOD" at VLADEY Space – a construction of popular characters, designed for mass consumption, defined by a pronounced degree of visual clarity, but at the same time very primitive in execution. Pakhom canonizes the heroes who are a symbol of Russia's weakness, turning them into defenders of the country and making them part of the epos. This time, Rasputin and Mary Davy Christ are replaced by the self-proclaimed folk healers Allan Chumak and Anatoly Kashpirovsky, while grandfather Pakhom plays a role of a healer. One of the most common symbolic properties of blood is its purifying power, which "flushes away" the sins. Therefore, it is with the help of blood that Pakhom "clears" the negative heroes.
The project was created in co-authorship with the artist Marinesca.
About the artist:
Sergey Pakhomov was born in 1966 in Moscow. He graduated from Krasnopresnenskaya Art School and Moscow Art and Industrial School named after Kalinin. In addition to his art activities, Sergey does performances, performs with various musical groups as an artist and conductor, acts in movies and talk shows. Widely known for the scandalous film by Svetlana Baskova "The green elephant" in 1999 and a TV show "Battle of psychics", 2015. Since the beginning of the 80’s Pakhom's works are popular with foreign collectors. The artist has repeatedly participated in exhibitions in London, Berlin, New York, Vienna, Moscow. His works are in private collections in Europe and Russia, as well in the collection of the Saatchi gallery. The artist lives and works in Moscow and Berlin.