11.12.2022
Daniel Pirogov
Connections are fragile and delicate, so they are very valuable. Without people and support, a person survives, not lives.
Now, when society is divided because of divergent views, it is difficult to be with those who think differently, I want to cut ties, and I am afraid to create new ones.
But at the same time, the connections with those people who are "in the same boat" with me have lit up and become even more important. Their support and understanding are incredible.
Ties are like threads - very easy to break, but with this work I want to encourage you to protect them by being attentive to one another.
One person can do a lot. And together, people can move mountains!
Together we can create this world and the future, individuals coming together is a tremendous force.
Born in 1996, Nizhny Novgorod.
Studied and worked in the field of architecture. Started artistic practice in 2019. Works with the theme of fictional mythology and artifacts, mainly in three mediums: land art, performative practices, creating sculptures from concrete and wire.
MANIFEST
The reality around me often seems confusing and complicated, so I try to find guidance in it through my own myths. My mythology has its origins in my childhood experiences and is complemented by my daily experiences.
My art is an attempt to capture the dynamic world in statics, to question what is reality and what is myth.
My artistic method implies the abolition of the linearity of time; I address a reality in which all variations of what is happening exist right now, overlapping each other. In my understanding, the world is a single mythological spatial landscape, continuously shaped by the layering of events and representations of them. I address the notion of an irrelevant artifact - an object that should not exist according to official history. In creating such objects, I offer my own version of what is happening.
I came to art from architecture and took all the essentials with me: concrete, wire, tracing paper, and the basic principles of working with space. This is how I turn utilitarian materials into objects of art. It is important for me to show the routine process of creating an artifact, to deconstruct the ritual, to deconstruct it into its components. By unpacking myth, I remove the veil of sacredness and mysticism, craftsmanship becomes important again. Sculpture is not born in a momentary burst of revelation, but in a long and consistent process of stirring the concrete. I find a balance between my own impact on the material and the influence of its physical properties.
I work in the studio, in the woods and outside. I call the totality of the studio objects and practices a bestiary. It is a large layered system in which each creature (or object) is an answer to my long term and current questions. The very first and foremost character of my mythology is the earth bird. It embodies an inner heaviness, a bogging down, an inability to break away, a sense of duty and attachment to a place. The graphics are created on several layers, and all but the last one are hidden from the viewer. The concrete millipede is an instrument of communication, an artifact object responsible for dialogue and search for solutions. The balance of concrete and wire structure makes it possible to determine the characteristic properties of each "class" of artifacts.
My mythological system is never static; it is constantly renewed and updated with new patterns and characters, or freed from them. When working with context, I combine my own mythology with local mythology by juxtaposing events, characters, and stories. Often I add found local materials and objects to my work, "preserving" them within the concrete sculptures.