1997
Luke & A Gallery of Russian Modern Art
London
L. Nevolainen
art critic
CHILDREN, WHO HAVE BEEN A POPULAR SUBJECT DURING THE 20TH CENTURY - FROM CHAGALL TO HELNWEIN...
View from a Sand Pit. About Alexander Bazarin
The works themselves are taken from the artists mind in meditative states.
All of them are unearthly while also absolutely everyday. Children, who have
been a popular subject during the 20th century - from Chagall to Helnwein -
were discredited in Russian art because of sociality and surplus sentimentality.
"When the child was a child, his little arms drooped along his little body,
he wanted a little brook to be a little river,a little river - to be a deep
river, and a little pool - to be a sea."
These words open "The Sky above Berlin", a film by Wim Wenders. In
it the world can be visible from angels eyes. The characters of the works of
Alexander Bazarin have a strong relationship to those in Wenders world. These
children are witness to other worlds and angels, creatures which can more adequately
express the essence of this spirit. Sometimes they blend into one whole, incomprehensive,
somnambulistic, creatures which hypnotise the spectator with their aloofness.
In spite of their fragility one feels that they radiate greatness, (a kingly
origin is hinted at as they are often wrapped into ermine clothes). In Wenders
film the angels' presence does not seem alien and shocking just as Bazarin's
characters are recognisable as realistic guides into the world of dreams. However
the artist does not underline a philosophical context intentionally. The theme
itself excites Bazarin only as a most "pure level of reality", important
for art reflection.
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