Rescue of Color

Глеб Гавриленков. Nature of perception №7. 2013. 160х110. Холст, масло. Courtesy Агентство. Art Ru
Personal exhibition of Gleb Gavrilenkov
Date: 
13.09.2013 to 29.09.2013
Address: 
Ozerkovskaya emb, 26

“Rescue of Color” project of St. Petersburg painter Gleb Gavrilenkov is dedicated to one of the eternal mysteries of Universe – ontology of color. Standing on the line dividing scientific and artistic spheres, the painter explores the machinery of how color and form are perceived. A human eye, as a camera, impartially registers impulses; however, images they turn into upon mental processing are going to depend on multiple factors. Brain doesn’t supply hundred snapshots, but integrated synaesthetic image.

It is exactly this multiplicity of subjective factors of perception that the painter takes as starting point in his creation. Concept of quantum physics that consciousness of the observer plays key role in shaping the reality is translated by Gleb Gavrilenkov into the sphere of pictorial art. Acquaintance with his works requires revision of the very machinery of perception, referring to such extent of reality where there is neither purport nor objects present, but machineries and processes exist.

Investigating physical and psychic aspects of color’s impact is one of the main pursuits of the painter. Starting with the idea of cosmic parallelism of mental and physical structures, as well as their material unity postulate, the painter creates ornamental static images. However, these frozen images actually depict dynamics, a process: growing plants, creation of the Universe, momentum transfer in brain or movement of dust particles in the air, flow of color spots behind closed eyelids or intertwining seaweeds in the depth of the ocean.

In his works Gleb Gavrilenkov depicts not the reality as it is, but its under- and over-levels. In this way he bypasses mechanisms of recognition, which are responsible for creation of habitual images. At the same time he succeeds in preserving the potential of unlimited capabilities of empty canvas, letting color and plastics speak for themselves. Looking at the painter’s works, viewer has to infinitely run through values of variables given to him, lacking the ability to give to appearing forms definite and fixed figurative interpretation.

To what extent does a man of today realize ephemery of stable images of reality? Does he pay enough attention to mechanisms of own perception? How do instincts and personal experience interact in creating colored and plastic images? The painter explores this and other issues interactively, aggregating all components of modern artistic activity.

Besides pictorial works, the exposition shall feature another event – performance, an installation, which is both art-object and a tool for creating works of hard-edge painting. Using it, in the exhibition real-time mode Gleb Gavrilenkov shall create a colored image of present moment, revealing a range of colors and their interaction. Every visitor shall remain on canvas in the form of a colored fragment, fixing frozen moment of a flux of momentums that form the picture of the world.

Gleb Gavrilenkov perceives pictorial art as one of the ways to explore reality. He extensively uses what the scientific theory of light and color has discovered as well as what have been achieved by outstanding doers and thinkers of pictorial art: V. Kandinsky, P. Klee, J. Pollock, K. Malevich, W. de Kooning, M. Matyushin and other. He is an active participant of international exhibitions and projects, he upholds the idea of urgent importance of understanding psychophysical and socio-cultural aspects of color perception.