Kirill Garshin
1, “Six Intimates” series
Lot 15 Year: 2018Material, technique: Paper, watercolor
Size: 43 х 60 сm Estimate: $1096 Start bidding: $959
Kirill Garshin was born in 1990 in Voronezh. In 2005 he graduated from the Voronezh School of Art majoring in art teaching. Garshin is a rare example of a contemporary artist who works exclusively with painting and graphics where both a continuity of tradition (e.g. hyperrealism) and a rethinking of current international trends (e.g. those of Gerhard Richter) coexist. He has participated in the Moscow International Biennale for Young Art (2014, 2015) and the Triennial of Contemporary Russian Art at the Garage Museum (2017). The works of Kirill Garshin almost always reflect the mechanism of memory: details are erased, colors fade, faces become barely distinguishable – only a subtle mood remains, and it is unclear whether it is pleasant or not. “The Six Intimates”, based on six intimate, almost erotic photographs from the artist’s personal archive, do just that. The subject matter and light watercolor make these works resemble “shunga” — refined Japanese erotic prints. Only these sensual scenes are imbued with anxiety and fragility characteristic of Garshin — the visual space “fails”, and the body loses its integrity (without becoming less attractive). The result is a reflection on intimate violence, with the deliberate beauty of watercolor creating a deceptive sense that everything is okay.