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Yana Payusova - Russian Prison Series

15 Sep 2005 Category: Events & Exhibitions, Illustration, Worldwide

As already mentioned yesterday, there is a lot of interesting Russian stuff happening in New York right now. A few days ago, I accidentally walked past the Mimi Ferzt Gallery featuring contemporary Russian art. Looking inside, I was touched by the wonderful works of Yana Payusova: Russian Prison Series.

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia 1979, the young artist was trained as a painter in an intensive six-year program at the Leningrad Art Lyceé in Leningrad, Soviet Union, within the traditions of the Russian Realism. She later received her bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Lake Forest College, Lake Forest, IL and is planning to complete her MFA at the University of Colorado, Boulder next year.

The work currently exhibiting until September 23rd shows paintings layered on traditional black and white photographic imagery mixing with the iconographic and symbolic elements of Russian Christian Orthodox culture from the twelfth to fifteenth centuries. The work certainly looks Russian, if not very traditionally Russian, but the style of the fine, colorful paintings with lots of gold covering the photographs remind more of a sinister comic.

Yana Payusova’s work was inspired by her experience of working at male prisons in St. Petersburg, Russia, where she was mainly working with incarcerated teenagers, the victims of the economic chaos that followed the breakup of the Soviet Union. These kids either grew up on the streets or came from highly dysfunctional families. With her images, Yana Payusova is pointing out to Russia’s corrupt correctional system and facilities, where the vast majority of people who end up in prisons are the ones who cannot afford to buy their way out.

“I understand that borrowing the iconic imagery may be offensive to some Orthodox Christians. As iconoclastic as my paintings may be perceived, I think of them in terms of challenging the traditional beliefs, customs and values rather than mocking sacred imagery or disrespecting religious artifacts. To shock or to insult the viewer is not my intention. I want them to consider what is more important — an icon or: a human life. Could a fourteen-year-old boy, abused by his family, scarred by his social environment, be considered a martyr? Visually entangling these notions, I wish to challenge the branding of a present day sinner.”

This project is going to consist of thirteen paintings in the end and will be accompanied by a digitally animated video piece.

feather © Yana Payusova 2005

son, detail © Yana Payusova 2005

truth, detail © Yana Payusova 2005

holy ghost © Yana Payusova 2005

holy ghost, detail © Yana Payusova 2005

string, detail © Yana Payusova 2005

placebo (left), father (right) © Yana Payusova 2005

placebo, detail © Yana Payusova 2005

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