Painting “Parasitic mother” (2023)

Title: Parasitic mother

Year: 2023

Dimensions: 40 Х 28. 5Х 0.5 cm, the depth is indicated by the protruding elements

Materials: Vintage velvet paper (30 years), gold textured paper, aracal (glossy plastic tape), 80s magazine photo, printed materials, shiny elements with mirror effect, Easter stickers (crosses), volumetric transparent elements, varnish.   

Direction: Dadaism, Symbolism, Expressionism, Brutal Art, Berlin Collage (Dadaist Berlin Collage tradition), The Cologne-Hannover collage, Conceptual Art, Sacred Art

Technique: analog collage, handmade collage, handcut

The colors in the picture not much may vary from the original, It is depending on the computer screen

The back of the collage is varnished for additional protection and to strengthen the base. The back of the collage is glossy.

On the back of the collage on the top corners there are wrinkles from time (the velvet paper is 30 years old), the front of the collage is not affected.

The collage, depending on the light, looks different because it consists of shiny and mirrored elements that reflect light in different ways.

Concept:

The work draws on the traditions of the Dadaists, the Berlin Manifestation Collage, the Cologne-Hannover Poetic Collage, Louise Bourgeois' work "Maman" and Hans Bellmer's mannequins (dolls).

The collage composition is an altarpiece composed of realistic elements and symbols. The central figure, in a golden triangle, resembles a spider in external silhouette, which visually makes a reference to Louise Bourgeois' project " Maman ". But if in Louise Bourgeois's project, despite the outwardly sinister appearance of the spider-mother, it is a symbol of protection, an ode to the mother. In my work, the image of the main figure is more aggressive and consumerist, from the concept of Louise Bourgeois' project " Maman " only the outer contour, a shell, something that should seem, but is not. In content and internal structure, the central spider-like figure is closer to Hans Bellmer's mannequins (dolls). Which creates a kind of dualism and deceptiveness. Beginning with the internal construction: the heavy, dominant woman in the chair dominating the two male figures in enslaved poses, forming together a single structure (organism) and ending with the imprint of the torn, split and disjointed nature of the two spaces - "my", "personal" and that which comes into contact with it, which is a form of protest against the illusion of sanctimonious morality of "decent" society, characteristic of Bellmer's mannequins. The parasitic mother is a collective image of the parent, society, and the state. It is a work about the destruction of personality, dehumanization. The war exacerbated the consumerist attitude toward human life, toward the individual, when life is worthless and freedom is an illusion. Life is scarier than art.

This work was also influenced by interviews with prisoners of war, conducted by Volodymyr Zolkin. The interviews are in the public domain, you can view them and make your own conclusions.