Anachronisms- series (recent project)

'Anachronisms', 2025/2026.

'anachronism'

'An error in chronology

A chronological misplacing of persons,

events, objects, or customs

in regard to each other'

My recent works depicting an urban landscape or the phenomenon known as “urban exploring” (urbex). One work excluded, the motives are purely functional.

These are anti-worlds, emerging from memories of the land of my youth, the USSR: a country that no longer exists, a place that evokes both admiration and fear—both a utopia and a dystopia at once, and undoubtedly my most important source of inspiration.

The colors are subdued, the lines strongly present, almost bold. The compositions are at times dense, at times very restrained. A factory, a construction site, or a square—all radiate a certain melancholy and derive their energy from stillness. Although no people appear, their traces are everywhere.

While these works deliberately avoid precise draftsmanship (their casual form allows more room for emotion), I have chosen a three-point perspective, enabling the viewer to perceive the image as if from above or below. It is near, yet far away. It is unreachable and intangible.

“Anachronisms” is, for me, more than a longing for lost time, for its sweet nostalgia, or for answers from the past. It is a journey towards the future.

In this series, unlike my earlier work, I consciously work on a larger scale and in acrylic (a fast medium). My art-historical sources of inspiration are numerous: Socialist Realism (Alexander Deineka), the avant-garde, as well as Magical Realism, world cinema, and literature—alongside the landscapes of painters such as Chirico, Willink, and Max Beckmann.