Andrei Rabodzeenko

statement

Painting

Recently I made a very sharp turn in my painting style towards the traditional language of the so-called “old masters”. This language that I am trying to use was developed through centuries of art history, from the Middle Ages to our times. As one might imagine, any change of painting style cannot be accomplished by pushing a button on the remote. This is a real and ongoing challenge for me. It has involved a period of serious study, drawing and painting of the human figure, brushing up on my knowledge of anatomy, for a start. Even the greatest artists continued improving their mastery throughout life, and learning from their predecessors, so I am really excited about the new challenge of being their imaginary apprentice.

The world we live in today, with all its technology and megalopolises, makes us assume that humanity has entered a completely new stage of development. In many cases it's true. But I would like to focus more on the task of unveiling and understanding those aspects of our being where we aren't so different from people that lived centuries before and from those that might come after us.

I started thinking of innovation in art. I realized that my innovation shouldn't reach the point where I began speaking a language that nobody understands -- or that people are forced to pretend that they understand. Thinking of art today, viewers seem to be floating in a confusing vacuum between a language we have lost and one we have not yet gained. I also realized that I can't jump out of my contemporary skin; I'm contemporary no matter what I do. So much of my energy was wasted on the simple act of staying contemporary, and why is it so important to my viewers? Is that the core question? I decided to try to make art that is more relevant to other people; my perception will be embedded in it anyway.

- A remark on photography versus realism in art -

Painting 2004

Preface

A street. A building. A construction site.
A woman floated by. I saw her face somewhere …or it’s that gesture.
A car.
The wheels with spikes spin in the rhythm of the horse hoofs clapping on the cobble stone pavement.
A face.
A message.
-- What? Did you say something?
Echo.
A big figure moves by the windowed facade.
A sign.
-- Is it to me?
-- If it’s a real sign, then it’s to you. Then it’s to everyone.
-- It’s a sign.
-- Hey, down below!
-- We are building a better place to be.
The sky turns color. Windows triple.
The dog made a statement. I didn’t hear it. It wasn’t for me. I hope so. I hope the dog’s statement is only for the dogs. Or for wolves.
I am a wolf.
I am a lizard.
I am a bird.
I am a machine.
I am a mountain.
I am the eye of an Indian.
So many memories, so many future realizations.
You can fly. Take me to the top of the building. Through the cupboard, through the neck of a bottle, through the laugh of the wolves and three hundred windows, through the eye of the wooden idol.
To the top of the building.
So tall, so out of this world.

* * * *

My paintings don’t express concrete situations. They are an attempt to connect with the unreachable, subtle side of being, something that is beyond a verbal vocabulary. When the connection happens I express it through colors, lines and images. This expression may be described as a careful preservation of a spiritual state. Explaining such painting is an unnecessary challenge. My titles are the answer to this challenge, more like a paying respect to a tradition with a twist of irony, humor or sarcasm. That’s why they sound absurd. But they serve the purpose – to throw the viewer away from the concrete perception of the painting, to create an empty space where the subtle will have a chance to be born. My viewers have to be relaxed in terms of not seeking for an immediate answer. The subtle can’t be born and can’t survive in the reality of concrete questions and immediate answers.

We have enough rush and concreteness in our everyday life. So don’t rush and ask me what this or that painting means. I probably will diligently try to explain, but my verbal explanation will not give the whole spectrum of feelings already expressed on the canvas, perhaps it will do the opposite - to steer you away from the truth. To ask for the immediate answer from the piece of art is a steal.

Sculpture

My works manifest the results of my explorations of human agency. I am interested in the visualization of universal ideas that stay true and mysterious throughout time but reveal themselves more sharply in contemporary conditions. I try to achieve a balance between recognizability of visual symbols and opaqueness of the message. This balance is meant to uproot viewers from their direct communication with the physical objects and send their attention to subconscious ways of relating to the offered subject of exploration.