Mutualism

Alexander Kantarovsky was born in 1982 in Moscow. His work reflects on the conditions, circumstances and events surrounding creativity in the Soviet era. By studying and revisiting the art, film and key historical moments from this period, he attempts to reconcile divergent methods and ideologies of post-war art. Kantarovsky's paintings and drawings are often foggy, unstable windows into another world, a cultural landscape in which art is not made for art's sake, but rather comes from a fervent desire to create a socially subversive gesture. An ongoing theme in his work is the thaw in a world of rigorously controlled self-expression. Combining his own experiences and anxiety with references to film, art and history, Kantarovsky creates fragile images that serve as a vacuum between both past and present and East and West.