Kyiv. Ya Gallery

The Complex Red

Anton Logov

13.02.2019 – 11.03.2019

Anton Logov

The Complex Red exhibition is a recollection and a premonition at the same time. A red line, a red spot, a red dash, a red watercolor wash, a red emphasis – the painterly projections of emotional breakdowns.

Exhibition Kyiv Ya Gallery

Human reminiscences, getting far away in time and deeper in unconsciousness, take shape of colored spots. The associative series extended with new images will sooner or later end with colored spots. The whole world that we see around us, defocusing and dissolving in darkness, transforms into a bunch of colored spots. The universe is color and vice versa. The image of color appears just as spontaneous as our world did. The painter Anton Logov conveys the random nature of this phenomenon on canvases with the 'complex red.'

The Eucharist victim and the Old Testament sin, the wings of a heavenly seraphim and the chthonic character of a mother's womb, the strength of passionate love and the temptation of hatred, the splendor of imperial power and the despair of a revolution, the redemption of infernal fire and the illusory light of the winter sun — they are all red. On the walls of primitive huts, on the Medieval icons, on the classics' paintings and in our life – this color dominates and subdues the whole harmony of the surrounding environment. What is its secret? What depth does the red reach, catching our eye when we casually look at it? Why is it red that we see on Anton Logov's paintings?

Inspired by van Eyck's, Goya's and Matisse's color search, Logov works with red breaking it into evasive shades, revealing its nuance potential, shaping it every time in a new way. According to Anton, the Complex Red series was born under the influence of close communication with the famous Ukrainian artist – Serhiy Yakutovych. He invited Logov to his studio and entrusted him with priming canvasses for his new painting series. In a dialogue of artistic generations, Anton shared with Serhiy both personal losses and bursts of inspiration. Yakutovych told him about his work in cinema, book design and numerous exhibitions, and later wanted Anton Logov to make his own series on those canvases. And then Serhiy passed away…

The viscous density of the red absorbs the most controversial emotions, the heaviest thoughts. This color is rich in history as well: at first – stigmas of Christ, later – the Bolshevik banners, and now – the blood of our war. On Anton Logov's paintings, the 'complex red' dissolves and is dissolved, transforming every separate abstraction into a part of the whole soul experience.

The Complex Red exhibition is a recollection and a premonition at the same time. A red line, a red spot, a red dash, a red watercolor wash, a red emphasis – the painterly projections of emotional breakdowns. Remaining in the domain of the painter's personal memories, they each time take a new form, interacting with a viewer. Kazimir Malevich said: 'There is neither past nor future in art, ergo it is always present.' Anton Logov's pictorial story unfolds here and now, leaving us with the complexity of its red.

Marina Bogush

Author

Born 1984 in Rozdilna city, Odessa region. Lives and works in Kyiv.

2004 - graduated from the Odessa State Art School named after M. B. Grekov.

2008 - schola

26.10.2022 – 26.11.2022
Exhibition Kyiv Ya Gallery
01.03.2017 – 21.03.2017
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Exhibition Kyiv Ya Gallery Art Center