By Pjotr Barakov

This is not a pipe

Well, writing this third SCAB feels like coming up with the third print for a print campaign. To be honest, I have no idea what to write about. So let me simply write about something. For example, about my favourite painting style. I really like surrealism and Rafał Olbiński is one of my favourite painters/illustrators. His work is truly spellbinding. (http://cameralabs.org/10483-izumlyayushchij-syurrealizm-rafala-olbinskogo) I’m fascinated by the way he manages to create surreal images by combining usual objects. It seems that his imagination is limitless. Olbiński’s work is very similar to the work of the famous Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte, some even call him ‘the Polish Rene Magritte’. I’ve seen some of Magritte’s work before (‘Son of Man’, ‘Golconda’, ‘The Treachery of Images’), but somehow I discovered his most interesting painting only recently. It’s called ‘The Empire of Light’ (http://smallbay.ru/images7/magritte7.jpg) and I guess it is one of the most mysterious paintings I’ve ever seen. Magritte produced a large series of works under the same title: 16 painted with oil and 7 with gouache. One of them was sold at Sotheby’s for $4 million in 2011. It took me a while to figure out why this painting made me feel confused. Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky uses the term ‘protivochuvstvie’ that indicates the clash of two opposites, the mismatch between form and content, that rattles nerves and sharpens perception. This conflict results in a condition which the ancient Greeks called ‘catharsis’ – the purification and elevation of the soul. It seems that Magritte’s art in general and ‘The Empire of Light’ is particular has this feature. So now I’d like to try to create ‘protivochuvstvie’ in my work, whether it’s photography or ads. As Dali once said ‘Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.’