Alexander Sigutin’s new project “That is how I see. Thematic supremacy” is dedicated, as other works of his of recent years, to the study of the relationship of the various visual Art languages and to the correlation of the sacral and the secular beginnings in culture. Here colourful suprematist figures, hovering in the space of two-metre canvases, are assembled in compositions which are in keeping with the iconography of the Deisis order and have such titles as “Christ in Majesty”, “Dmitri Solunsky” and so on. It is strict, conceptually aligned painting, the interpretations of which may be wide-ranging: from the clarification of the issues of the icon’s influence on avant-garde painting, to a quiet individual protest against the current placing of religion under State control and against the creation of a uniform national-patriotic visual trend on all levels. In any case, this is unobtrusive, but masterfully represented art, which facilitates the building of theoretical bridges between the state of the contemporary and the centuries-old Russian artistic and spiritual tradition. At the same time, these works reflect today’s searches of minimalism – the tendency, which is not in demand in his own country, but connected with representations of Art worldwide.

Alexander Sigutin (b. 1959) is one of the prominent representatives of the Southern Russian wave of contemporary Russian art, along with V. Koshlyakov, Y. Shabelnikov, A. Ter-Oganian; he has participated in many international projects. His works are held in museum, corporate and private collections throughout the world. He lives in Moscow. Also on show now, within the framework of the 3rd Moscow Biennale, is his exhibition “Gastarbiters of the Spirit” (made in collaboration with V. Anzelm) in the Priming Machine Hall of the “Project_Fabrika” (until the 18th of October), and his early works can be seen in the exhibition “Association “Art or Death” in the State Museum of Modern Art, RAA (until the 25th of October).