I didn’t begin my path in art right away. First, I studied archaeology, then philosophy. But while I was working on a PhD at LMU Munich—exploring the profound link between art and truth—I was already exhibiting abstract paintings in group shows. As a result of my thesis it became clear to me: solely by the use of rationality skepticism cannot be overcome, and to gain access to the presence of the world we need the experience of art.
When I consequently dedicated myself to being an artist, my work was first guided by the Platonic belief that art must represent an Idea of something. Living and working in Moscow from 1991 to 1998, I painted large abstract oils that expressed my personal feelings in the shifting realities of Russia in those crucial years, when the political unstableness of the country seamed to reflect my personal instability.
Later, during my life in Vienna (1999–2015), my practice broadened, probably under the influence of Viennas very particular art scene , into conceptual paintings, installations, objects, and even philosophical interventions in the city’s daily life. I cooperated with several galleries and my work became a mirror for the social and intellectual questions that moved me most deeply.
Since 2016, I have turned toward a different focus and finally attained the accomplishment of my life-obsession. To concentrate on the holistic role of art, its metaphysical dimension of letting us rejoice in the mysteries unsolved of every day life.
Far from Plato’s shadows, art carries no story to tell, not even the tale of refusing to tell one. Instead, it opens a space for the mind to wander, to play, to delight in its most essential task: perceiving the world with wonder and trust.
The WINDOWS in my paintings are placed with care, like stones in a Zen garden—anchoring the eye within the field of paint that surrounds them. The painted surface becomes like gravel combed into rhythms, framing emptiness as presence, silence as form. While writing on Kazimir Malevich, who declared his Black Square to be the icon of modern times, I came back to the quiet realization: the true content of art may simply be its power to awaken and expand perception, and to let us dwell with pleasure in a non rational awareness of our senses.
In 2016 I moved to Paris (with a studio in Montreuil) where I followed this creative path and showed its results in a personal exhibition , and in 2018 to the French overseas Island La Réunion. where I created the ILand paintings (solo show Sensation). After five years of living under the gentle tropics of La Réunion, I am now again based in Paris. I am to taking this approach further, with even greater seriousness, intensity and freedom.
