Hortus 2015

Curator: Welcome. We're looking at Andrey Remnev's 2015 oil painting, "Hortus." Editor: It's captivating, isn't it? The overall tonality is muted yet rich, and the subjects strike a disquieting pose with unnerving symmetry. Curator: It certainly is. Remnev is working within a tradition here, recalling old master techniques while pushing towards something surreal. The material application itself is fascinating. The layering of the paint and glazing... you can almost feel the artist’s hand. We can see the support, most likely canvas. Its fabrication contributes significantly to the overall visual experience. Editor: Absolutely. Note how the color scheme contributes to the painting’s psychological dimension. The dark red dresses establish the solemn mood, while the contrasting green bows offer a slight dissonance, highlighting an ambiguous narrative tension within the frame. Curator: Those deep reds are remarkable in terms of colorant choice too. What pigments are responsible for those tonalities and how were they sourced and traded at the time this piece was created? These contribute to how we read this artwork today. There’s a history embedded in the work through those colors. Editor: True, yet structurally speaking, there's a dialogue between hard geometric forms, like the checkered floor, and organic, flowing ones such as the blue wildflowers at left. This kind of visual contrast amplifies the sense of otherworldly whimsy. Curator: I am intrigued by how Remnev references and reimagines conventional symbols. A watering can seems to feature as a prop of nurturing and perhaps even alludes to domestic work of women across time. Editor: I agree, and I think it is equally thought-provoking how those recurring circles, the polka dots on the dresses or small dots punctuating the bows, can serve as a means of visual cohesion and draw the viewer's eye around the canvas, creating rhythmic echoes. Curator: Yes, seeing the materiality here really enables us to rethink modes of production in art. Editor: Indeed. The more you unpack the artwork’s formal and aesthetic elements, the more apparent the levels of deliberate sophistication in plain sight.