EXPERIMENTING WITH FRIENDS
2020 a delightful invitation to surreal, fantastical composition came in the form of a commission from a company specializing in computer art and animated digital advertising. 22 employees of the company wanted to be portrayed nude together in a free composition. The painting was intended to serve as a background image in the company’s party pavilion during their appearances at international trade fairs, providing the backdrop for exclusive events with invited guests.
This gave rise to the oil painting SELAM X, measuring 6 meters wide and 2 meters high. It consists of three individual panels, each 2 by 2 meters in size, which can also be treated as independent works. Seamlessly joined together, they form a continuous pictorial space featuring the portraits of 22 employees of the company.
SELAM X - Teil 1 (part one), section of the painting. oil on canvas 200 x 200 cm (78,7 x 78,7 in)
{meanwhile, this canvas is destroyed. There’s no photographic document of the complete work. However, in the following picture of all three panels together it appears on the left side.}
SELAM X - Teil 2 (part two), oil on canvas 200 x 200 cm (78,7 x 78,7 in)
SELAM X - Teil 3 (part three), oil on canvas 200 x 200 cm (78,7 x 78,7 in)
An den Patriarchen-Teichen (At the patriarch's ponds). 2022, oil on canvas. 200 x 200 cm (78,7 x 78,7 in)
The patriarch’s ponds give name to a small park in the center of Moscow. It is the place where Mikhail Bulgakov sets the fantastic events of his novel The Master and Margarita in motion. Behemots first appearance is the theme that was chosen here. With this the first canvas of the above triptych, SELAM X Teil 1 was overpainted.