Fyodor Kibanov. Nighttime Events

The exhibition showcases the art of Fyodor Kibanov – largely intuitive, verging on automatic. As we know, the practice of automatic drawing can be traced back to Surrealists. In this case, however, it is further enhanced by being machine-aided. The artist draws medium-scale pictures and goes on to process them with a digital image editor until the desired effect is achieved.

In addition to these analogue-turned-digital drawings, Fyodor Kibanov also creates vitreous enamels. An artist working in this medium has a natural collaborator – the element of fire. The pigment on the surface of the copper plate enters the kiln, and the result of firing is always unpredictable. It looks like all of Kibanov’s art harbours a desire to let the perfectly disciplined line drawn by a professional draughtsman roam free. Even something that looks like a blot here is actually the trace of the line’s mysterious movements. It generates enigmatic and unparalleled shapes here and pretends to become a diagram or a technical drawing there. Whatever the case, the movements of this line always follow the will of its creator. There is something organic about these works, revealing the hidden life of nature, its rhythms and mechanisms.

The world rendered by Fyodor Kibanov seems to have a nocturnal aspect, and things that take place there are utterly incomprehensible. According to the artist, ‘we are made to explore the world around us, its expanse and objects within it. We do it even when we encounter something inexplicable. Imagination saves our mind from emptiness and chaos. The old worn paper is like the matter of the Universe in which something has changed, and it is up to the artist to set things right.’