Ievgen Petrov
AQUA PARK
06.07 - 01.08.2008

Ievgen Petrov
AQUA PARK

06.07 - 01.08.2008

First personal exhibition of Ievgen Petrov is a summer erotic horror about water and rapacity; a remix of movie "Jaws", which could be filmed by Quentin Tarantino and David Lynch.

"Once, I was sinking,-tells Petrov. - It is very interesting under the water, when you sink. In the beginning you feel fear, then panic, and after all- resignation and indifference. Finally, you just start examine the wet surrounding. In "Aqua Park", I have tried to reproduce this gradual penetration into depth. It's great, that uncle Lyonia saved me...Those, who had sunk, do not write paintings."

"Aqua Park" is not the whole story, but a constellation of narratives, which are combined with one water-space theme. Notable, that this summer vacation does not seem careless. Sharks eat naked chicks, and horny men bare their teeth and cut fish.

"Water changes people. At the sea, males turn into predators, filled with beer, and females and fish - into catch of males- hunters. When people enter the sea, they urinate at first. This is the time when water and man unite. Individual leaves its sign and starts living water rules."

Petrov subtly feels history's nerve, her key mood. Canvases are full with contrasts: black humor adjoins with touching romantics, death with entertainment and sex. Everywhere are drama and tension. Here you can smoke cigarette, while the boat is blowing up after your back; you can jump inside the rubber poll, while the plane is flying towards the twin towers. Dogs and piglets run on the ocean floor, the man looks sadly inside the jar with fish, and people on the shore teem inside the giant whale, as if they were parasites.

Moreover, the technical side of the project deserves separate attention. Petrov is well known by his maniac scrupulousness of artistic practices, which is hardly peculiar to modern careless artists.

"I have tried to draw water with oil, but realized, that water theme should be performed with watercolors. To tell you the truth, water is hard to draw, especially, colors. For example, color of human skin under water seems dirty, like the one drowned man has. The only medium with over-water environment are sun glints. The place they fall has skin color, everything else -a color of a dead flesh. It is hard to reproduce. I had to throw out at least eight paintings, until I got what I have wanted. "

Petrov's debut is the event for Kiev art-scene, because new worthwhile names rise up here rarely. Anyways, "Aqua Park" is a project everybody should see, before going on vacation.


Anatoliy Ulyanov