Eduard Zibnitski 

Artist's Statement

The desired 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 enjoy 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, feeling of mysterious presence is rather essential for me; it's what I try to achieve. In my style I feel being influenced by folk Baroque art of the past, and by Modern masters such as of German Expressionism with its earthy colouring 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. 

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

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• Technology and industry: how the world created by humans correlates with nature and how they fight creating new reality

• 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.

• The abyss between wish and possibility.