Gerika Gerlikaerika

The painting "Gerika-Gerlikaerika" refers to the early period of my work, when I just came to the style of "ornamentalism". The canvas is already 22 years old. When I write these lines, I myself do not believe; - so many years have passed since that time! These were the years of study at the Ryazan Art College, the time of the search for a new style in art. I’ll tell you “in confidence”, dear friends and visitors of our excursions with Tatyana, this is my favorite painting from my works. "Where does such a strange name come from and what does it mean?" - perhaps you ask? In those years, I was searching for a new style not only in painting but also in literature. Along with mysterious signs and symbols, the plots of my paintings were "covered" with strange names, the translation of the words of which I did not yet know. I had a whole series of paintings with mysterious names.
The painting is based on childhood memories. My parents and I often went to the Ryazan Kremlin in childhood. Its architecture made a strong impression on me. I remember the autumn period when the colors become especially bright, contrasting. The storyline is simple; - against the background of the blue sky, painted with uncharted patterns - symbols, the Assumption Cathedral is located (it is considered to be the "pearl" of Russian architecture). In the foreground we see the figure of a priest in a festive miter. In those years, there were no church services in the Assumption Cathedral. Perhaps in my childhood perception, I anticipated an official return to the Orthodox faith of the Christian religion, to worship in most churches.
The whole plot of the picture is as if woven from patterns written with a brush and paints, which seem to materialize from air and bright sunlight. Painting is based on contrasting colors and lighting. There are many finds in the picture for my creativity at that time. For example, in it I first applied the effect of layering snowflakes on reality. Going through the old mezzanine boxes, I found snowflakes cut out of foil in one of them (we cut them out for the New Year with the whole family). I thought: "Why not put a snowflake on the image of reality, carefully outline the contours with a pencil and then write it with oil paints?" So besides ornamentalism, a “game of snowflakes” appeared in my painting, no one has ever used this method before me. Later, in many of my paintings, I used this technique and the snowflake became my "calling card". My and my style is ornamentalism. So in 2013, I used the key snowflake in the design of the flag of my style.