The exhibition “Gastarbiters of the spirit” – is the first joint project of Aleksandr Sigutin and Vladimir Anzelm, two authors, who have been working together closely for a long time, in the circle of artists, the so called South-Russian wave, – one of the foundation stones of contemporary Russian art (known well through such names as V. Koshlyakov, Y. Shabelnikov, S. Shehovtsov).

With such an unusual combination of words the artists tried to express their interest in spiritual issues in contemporary art and in the surrounding world in general, but from the positions as it were of external observers or ignoramuses. It is needless to say, the toil “by the sweat of one’s brow” of such creators-“gastarbiters”, who are reflecting “upon the eternal”, is by no means doomed to popularity in the thoroughly media-overrun space, interested predominantly in scandals and pointed revelations of the moment. Their searches do not belong to either the category of the officiously-orthodox, or to the sphere of current-journalistic “art”. They are steadily ignored and even frequently rejected by both sides. Nevertheless, the artists continue the search for truth in the framework of a centuries-old tradition, not forgetting about today’s world as well.

There is painting and sculpture in this project. The monumental canvases of A. Sigutin from the series “Outlines” convey the layouts of well-known icon subject matter – from the “Trinity” to the “Assumption”, but in such a way as if drawn by a light hand, in one movement, at times almost bordering on the abstract. In contrast to the white canvases, V. Anzelm’s chamber and ponderous sculptures, made out of compressed coal, reflect the material world often encountered in the backgrounds of works of sacred art.