Eduard Zibnitski 

Artist's Statement

 

The expected effect of my art on a viewer is based on a special fusion of awe and irony. These two opposite elements were seen as inevitably combined together in Romanticism: feeling of mystery and metaphysical significance of the world, on one hand, and ironic vision of reality, where the ideal is unreachable, on the other. Romanticist irony, according to one of its early theorists, means that you “believe” and “do not believe” in the same time. An artist endeavors to express something profound and meaningful, but then comes understanding that one is not able to do that precisely; that perception of the final piece might be quite different; that the medium itself and the very language of the visual art aren't fit for the task, especially in today's cultural situation. So Romanticist Aesthetics enjoys this feeling of self-parody; this ambiguity becomes artist's intention. Never being completely serious, I feel fine with my art looking naïve, ugly or confusing, and too plain, or too rough sometimes too. But still, I insist that its messages are important exposing the hidden sides of the life. I should add that my art tends to turn back to universal symbols instead of simulacres of pop culture.

 

In my style I feel being influenced by Gothic and folk Baroque art, and by Modernist masters such as of German Expressionism with its earthy coloring and simplification of forms. Surrealism is not a correct term to describe my works: surrealists' agenda and method don't inspire me and are irrelevant in our days; it was quite a post-war European utopian thing. And I'm definitely against that type of contemporary art which is defined as “surrealistic” and don't agree to be associated with it. In opposite to the true old days surrealists (although loving their atmospheric melancholy) I'm here not to ruin logic and norms of the society but rather to console minds with images of the world, where harshness and vulgarity have lost their strength.

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The themes I'm attracted to could be described in terms of:

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• Nature and its victory over machinery, though I glorify human achievements in technology and exploration. Forces of Nature is often represented in my collages with rust, rough surface and old broken things reused.

• Childhood; child's vision of the world. That's why, for instance, the motifs of toys and of motion/transportation are repeated often in my works. And cozy abodes, of course, where children love to hide.

• The abyss between desire and possibility.