The Altar of Thyatira

Biblical motives go through all my works but this one is a real confluence of meanings. This painting combines a brutal expressiveness of the Kuzbass mythology with extremely bourgeois aesthetics of the Dutch still life.

The altar is lavishly laid for the sacrifice. There are symbols of the modern world, symbols of abundance, plentiful foods from Dutch still lifes, and the Saviour himself. Since the attitude towards the truth and love of neighbour has not changed much in the modern age, love is about to be sacrificed once again.

I work in bitumen and Kuzbass varnish. Both are by-products of coal mining and are also symbolic. Coal and other earth resources, like gold in the past, are exchanged for false values, values that we trade our lives for.