dark, moody paintings and sculptures by an angel

Result #1

who looks like an angel. Her rich, sculptural surfaces give her a herky-jerky look; her less interesting pictures are more image-oriented and have the quality of a while-in-a-box drawing. In some of these pictures, a smidgen of foggy brown is sometimes produced in dark red. But the images are more vivid, visceral, sensual than anywhere in the show.The artist mostly uses cast bronze and ceramic tables, which are only occasionally seen in more traditional, geometric forms. In one of her most successful works, she turns them into a kind of double-decker building, with a high-tech panel system and a separate floor section. The solid materiality of the clay and plaster is strong, solid, almost scientific. In fact, there is no cloying material. Once again, she is taking full advantage of the techniques of sculptors and collage makers.The stoneware pieces are nearly all from 1982 and 1983. They are created from cast bronze and ceramic painted with a pale, ground-colored paint that tends to blend with the bronze. Here, the images are paintings rather than drawings, mostly of figure-sculpture figures in their early twenties and early thirties. One is more surprised than one would like to be, because the process is so skillfully accomplished. In this work, the artist plays on the tension between flatness and space; space between the sculptural elements is less significant than the suggestion of shape that has been created by the surface. In the earlier pieces, she uses a wooden frame to support the clay in the cast. This is perhaps why they are difficult to interpret, because the pattern of the chair is not as simple as the pattern of the floor. The paintings are much more readily understood. If these works are unsettling, the ineffable essence that is present in them has an eerie, mysterious charm.

Result #2

dark, moody paintings and sculptures by an angel of death. Some of the pieces look like skeletons. Others are like biblical scenes, such as the name of the temple in the Russian-speaking border region of Dagestan. In the Russian-speaking areas, the statues are on plinths, and in the Russian-speaking part of Dagestan, they are mounted on the ceiling.The paintings at the Fondation de lArt Contemporain, and the earlier ones at the Fondation de lArt Contemporain and the Conversation de lArt Contemporain, are the most ambitious pieces in the show. At the Fondation de lArt Contemporain, all the sculptures were in the gallery, while at the Conversation de lArt Contemporain, the sculptures were mounted on the walls. These two points of departure are the foundations of the shows: for the former, the works are derived from the collections of the czars, the latter from the works of Chechen folklore. The works at the Fondation de lArt Contemporain are almost all made of bronze, and at the Conversation de lArt Contemporain, bronze is the most widely known medium. Although the materials are not identical, they are all painted in a rich patina. The complexity of the materials combined with the ornate design of the sculptures makes them resemble a dream world.According to one interpretation, the sculptures are intended to be a ritual offering. They were also a kind of farewell for the czars and the Emperor, Vladimir III, his daughter and the mothers mother of his only child, Princess Diana. And, as with the tsars, this ceremony, called the oblation, is a kind of sacred or esthetic farewell. The official title for the oblation of Diana and the Mother of Her Children, Tsarina, is, in fact, the title of a reproduction of the first throne of the Russian Empire.

Result #3

dark, moody paintings and sculptures by an angel of death. Illy also worked with silks, pulling, stitching, and crocheting cloth to form cottons, open-necked shirts, and tuxedo pants. The materials he used were given names, like Flesh, Leather, and Stripes, for example, and they all contain a single unpeeled fruit. The fruit was a representation of the human body in all its decay, glory, and color, but most of it was missing a third toe or a toe.All the works in this show were wrought from black acrylic and/or freestanding wood, inked with pigment from various sources, such as candied-pine tar, gunpowder, gunpowder pellets, and gunpowder crystals. This indicates that the artists method of making his works was to use heavy-duty materials, especially in the form of concrete. And in all of them, the artist is obsessed with death—perhaps its a joy to think that the sunburn of death, or the sharp pain of pain, is permanent. For Illy, death is a timeless, even paradise, just as art is an end in itself.Although the whole show couldnt be clearly identified by means of an overall theme or by the chosen colors, some of the works were fairly interesting and possibly even significant, such as the loose, transparent, translucent-steel leather pieces, such as Portrait of the Red Handed Artist (all works 2005), and the paintings on leather. But the idea of art as a temporary, always on the verge of decay or decay-even if its not yet destroyed—wasnt explored in the least. The few works in the show were rather dark and brooding.

Result #4

dark, moody paintings and sculptures by an angel of doom. Samaria, his twin sister, is a cross between an angel and a devil. In one work, her right hand is cut off, her left hand torn off. In another, her left hand is stitched together, and in some of the sculptures, they overlap. In the one that portrays the sisters demonic twin, a puddle of blood on the ground glows. In one, a figure is cut out of the background, left alone to utter a wail of agony.The two most significant works in the show were the angel- and devil-headed demons, both titled Untitled, 2001. The angels head is hollow and devouring. Its faceless, like a sculpture by a madman. The devil, on the other hand, has eyes. One of the paintings shows a demonic, terror-ridden figure in a dark, sinister room. The devil has wings, flying weapons, and a demonic visage. The paintings title refers to how the devils wings and wingspan are exaggerated, in effect, making the devils body larger than the devils body. Also in the exhibition, Samaria and the devil were paired with a ziggurat, an ancient geometric building that was destroyed in the same attack that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. A demonic god is being made for all eternity in the ziggurat.Samaria and the devil have a strong, if often quiet, presence in the show. The devil is angry, but also mournful. Samaria has been made up of clay. She has a wide, round, and ovular head, and a large, strong, and long body. The devil has a long, long beard. Her figure, too, has horns. Their heads are always at rest, whether alive or dead, an expression of infinite grief. A woman sits behind a house, saying nothing, focusing on the devil, who is standing behind her. The devil is a dead animal, but also a body of clay.