Mamonov 2009

Curator: So, here we have Alexander Roitburd's "Mamonov," a mixed-media painting created in 2009. Editor: My first thought is, this is unsettling, yet strangely inviting. The stark black background with those pops of color, it feels like peering into someone’s dream. A slightly…chaotic dream. Curator: It’s Roitburd's take on portraiture, pushing the boundaries. Note the unusual pose, the subject reclined but almost floating within the composition. Then consider the figure itself, surrounded by what appears to be a spontaneous collection of lines, forms, and vibrant colors – a calculated chaos. Editor: Exactly, it's like the unconscious mind exploded onto the canvas. I'm intrigued by the color palette: earthy tones disrupted by electric greens and purples, applied with visible, expressive brushstrokes. What strikes me formally, is the tension between the realistically rendered face and the raw abstraction elsewhere. Is the contrast intended, do you think? Curator: Absolutely, the tension creates an aura, the personality of Mamonov almost fighting to escape from the artist’s, or perhaps Mamonov's own, inner world, rendered through these seemingly childlike scribbles. I always interpreted it as that moment of reflection, where everything around sort of distorts, revealing more truths than tangible artifacts can achieve. Editor: It's an intriguing contrast, as Roitburd layers these near-primitive symbols around Mamonov— a kind of intuitive semiotics that blends contemporary styles with naive art. A fascinating collision between internal thought and external portrait. I think this collision provides this unsettling, almost theatrical quality, yet deeply fascinating, a real insight, as you stated, into a shared world. Curator: It's a piece that grows on you, the longer you look, the more you see. The energy! And the feeling behind those expressive shapes – I am so curious what they may symbolize… Editor: For sure. I appreciate Roitburd’s courage to blend formal precision with what feels like pure emotional output. Curator: That, I think, is Roitburd at his finest, his gift of allowing us all to ask what is life?