THE FERES
SERIES
GAMES OVER ABYSS
Oil on canvas
120x80
2023
"The children's games are so much sincere and fierce. They put all their soul, inner strength and faith into playing them. Seems that at night their toys always come alive. And under the elastic rope there is a huge abyss. So scary it is to imagine what will happen if one hits it. And if you stand over the hopscotsh... Oh, no. It's better even not to think about that!
And the adults, the play the same fierce and a great deal important games, don't they? The games so significant for them compared to the eternity.
ABOUT
"Until the IV century A.D., the artists used to depict the angels as the bearded or bald men. No over ever thought about showing them with the wings behind - but then the heavenly messengers suddenly became winged and with halos. In the Middle Ages, the angels were sometimes represented as creatures in the shape of the wheels consisting of the wings and eyes only. Sometimes, the cherubs had four animal heads...
"The Feres" by Lana Stalnaya is the field for the visual experiment, the research of the predestination, fate and the helpers, the Feres in it. A million of questions are overhelming us from the canvases: is there a destiny at the end? Is our path already predetermined? Is the human walking this path on his own? Or is he being helped by someone? Who are our Feres? Do they know where we are going? Do they know it for sure?
Every work here becomes a hypothesis. One second a human becomes an angel to himself, he bends over trying to endure the pain of wings cutting through his ribs. The next, he starts to walk by making clumsy steps... No wonder that these steps are clumsy, this is the very first time we walk. The next, the angels turn into children, which are carefully watching this puppet theater, they see everything, but can they help us?
The characters by Jerom Bos break into my thoughts, they begin a dialogue with the experiment participants like the aliens. They are trying to undermine the system even more.
At some point, I want to say, "That's enough, enough!" We are not alone, we do not need any other angels than ours, those to whom we we have got accustomed, wise, confidently leading us by the hand.
Which was to be proved.
SIGNALMAN
Oil on canvas
120 x 130
2023
Have you ever wondered where is this main switching center located, where our prayers fly to? And who delivers them to God? Are they delivered one by one? Or someone arranges them topic-wise into batches? On Tuesdays they consider our prays for health, on Thursdays - for peace. Are there any Thursdays there at all?
I SEE
Oil on canvas
120 x 100
2023
Sold
A path that may not need to be seen. How is that to watch a movie already knowing its end and that a gardener is a murderer? Well, who wants to know in advance that the movie is great or, perhaps, is not? What if? If you don't know. Can we play it in another way? It will be totally different movie. Your own.
NOT EVERYTHING THAT FALLS FROM THE SKY IS A BIRD
Oil on canvas
130 x 90
2023
Sometimes it happens so, that only light matters on a canvas (or for the global view). The light falling contre-jour, from behind, which illuminates everything so brightly, even too much. This is exactly the light, which will hint you that falling means flying.
THE PATRONS
Oil on canvas
100 x 12-
2023
- What are they doing?
— I don't know.
- And when are they going to finish?
- By the next April, 15th.
And what if our good angels are not bearded wise old men, but these funny girls with pigtails? And they are looking at us right from above, you know, they see very-very far. But can they really help us?
WHO ARE YOU?
Oil on canvas
120 x 80
2023
This is not a game, everything is very serious.
Or is it still a game? And who are these animals?
Rushing into the plot, the characters by Hieronymus Bosch. Evil, infernal creatures, like they have just come right out of hell, they become just toys in the children’s hands ... or angels, you never can tell.
At the background of the dark abyss, they are not the dangerous invaders any more, they look helpless, miserable and feeble. They are more naïve even than the children. They are fragile. They have got lost in the vast and wise universe.
ECLIPSE
Oil on canvas
120 x 80
2023
WINGS
Oil on canvas
120 х 100
2023
The wings are growing up painfully. The tendons stretch first, then the iliac region expands, after that, passing through the skeleton, the wings move the ribs apart. Sometimes, it takes years for the ribs to get used to their new position.
FROM WHICH PERSPECTIVE WE LOOK AT (THREE GRACES)
Oil on canvas
100 x 50
2023
Does everything beautiful stay beautiful if you look at this everything from the other side? Or maybe it's more real there? You can see the worn-out heels there. Great that you can see it.
I AM OKAY
Oil on canvas
130 x 90
2023
What are the stars fixed on? Do they have anchor clamps? Or what kind of clamps do they have? Do the angels get tired? Can they get completely tired of us?
"WELL, WHAT'S UP THERE?"
Oil on canvas
120 x 80
2023
A path that may not need to be seen. How is that to watch a movie already knowing its end and that a gardener is a murderer? Well, who wants to know in advance that the movie is great or, perhaps, is not? What if? If you don't know. Can we play it in another way? It will be totally different movie. your own.
NOMINATION
Oil on canvas
100 x 70
2023
"Everyone who is called Adam, this is his name."
Isn't it true that by naming our children, we are trying to help them at least a little, to set the fate of a good person for our child, a winner, a strongman, a sage. But, don't you find this nomination too heavy?