savvin
alexey
alexey
contemporary artist
Born in 1985. Lives and works in Moscow.
Member of the Creative Union of Artists of Russia.
Member of the Creative Union of Artists of Russia.
I see painting as a space of cultural memory—a place where images continue to exist long after the world that produced them has disappeared.
My work is not concerned with reproducing the past or directly referencing art history. Instead, I explore how images retain their ability to communicate after losing their original context. It is within this transformation that my artistic practice begins.
My artistic language has developed at the intersection of academic painting and philology. Their encounter shapes the way I approach culture—as a network of visual and symbolic systems. Religious traditions, mythology, literature, art history, the natural sciences, and personal experience become equal participants in a continuous dialogue, generating new meanings while preserving the memory of their origins.
Insects, tree bark, plants, and other biological structures occupy a central place in my work. I approach them not as natural specimens but as symbolic systems and living archives of time. By shifting attention from the monumental to the almost invisible, I investigate how memory, faith, time, and human culture become embedded in even the smallest forms of life.
For me, painting is a process of thinking rather than illustrating predetermined ideas. Each new layer has the potential to redirect the work, revealing unexpected relationships between images. My recent practice increasingly explores the materiality of painted surfaces, where earlier forms remain visible beneath later ones, allowing the painting itself to become a vessel of memory.
Ultimately, I approach painting as a living archive in which history, nature, and symbolic thought continue to evolve and enter into dialogue with the present.
My work is not concerned with reproducing the past or directly referencing art history. Instead, I explore how images retain their ability to communicate after losing their original context. It is within this transformation that my artistic practice begins.
My artistic language has developed at the intersection of academic painting and philology. Their encounter shapes the way I approach culture—as a network of visual and symbolic systems. Religious traditions, mythology, literature, art history, the natural sciences, and personal experience become equal participants in a continuous dialogue, generating new meanings while preserving the memory of their origins.
Insects, tree bark, plants, and other biological structures occupy a central place in my work. I approach them not as natural specimens but as symbolic systems and living archives of time. By shifting attention from the monumental to the almost invisible, I investigate how memory, faith, time, and human culture become embedded in even the smallest forms of life.
For me, painting is a process of thinking rather than illustrating predetermined ideas. Each new layer has the potential to redirect the work, revealing unexpected relationships between images. My recent practice increasingly explores the materiality of painted surfaces, where earlier forms remain visible beneath later ones, allowing the painting itself to become a vessel of memory.
Ultimately, I approach painting as a living archive in which history, nature, and symbolic thought continue to evolve and enter into dialogue with the present.
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
