ON SEPTEMBER 16, OVCHARENKO PRESENTS «CONTINUATION» — A solo EXHIBITION BY LEONID tskhe, COMBINING A NEW SERIES OF PAINTINGS FROM 2026. THE PROJECT DEMONSTRATES THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ARTISTistic METHOD, WITHIN WHICH HE CONTINUES TO EXPLORE THE COMPLEX RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SPACE, FORM, AND THE CANVAS.
Tskhe’s creative method is based on a strong academic foundation. Over the past 15 years — from his performative practices as part of the «Sever‑7» group to the present day — the artist has come a long way, transferring the laws of graphic art into the realm of painting. Working with canvas, Tshe leaves unpainted areas as independent volumes, constructing the structure of the painting as meticulously as an architectural project is created. An important experiment in the new series (in the works «Lake», «Order», and «Lion and Monkey») was the use of a black ground. This classic method of the old masters loses its usual auxiliary role in Tskhe’s practice. The dark base becomes an active element of the composition here, dictating the density of the paint layer, the optical depth, and the balance of light and shadow. A characteristic feature of Tshe’s painting remains the principle of non‑finito — a fundamental understatement. By rejecting a preconceived idea, the artist allows the painting to develop in the course of work, capturing the very dynamics of thought rather than a static outcome. The figurative motifs in his canvases are subordinated to a strict composition, but they deliberately do not form a clear‑cut plot. They balance on the edge of abstraction, leaving the painting in a state of continuous movement. The starting point for Tskhe’s works is always his personal experience of observation and visual shifts in the perception of space (as in the large‑scale canvases «Hunting the Thrush» and «Cloud», where the boundary between earth and sky is blurred). An additional source of inspiration for the artist was the graphic works of Käthe Kollwitz, which Leonid Tskhe encountered in the permanent exhibition at her museum. He was struck by the emotional power of her images — her ability to convey human pain and compassion through the language of graphic art with almost physical acuity. Tskhe finds a similar intonation in the works of Francisco Goya — one of his favorite authors.
