The exhibition has the same title as one of Kosenkov`s picture from the series devoted to the sea; “Chumikan” is the name of a ship. At the first glance the paintings seem to be a random collection of scenes, views and objects derived from our daily life, but they have nothing in common with plain-air. Kosenkov stylizes and simplifies forms, uses bright colors, rejects three-dimensional figures and dramatic subjects. As a result, the world appears as a bright patchwork, “veil of Maya” provoking laugh and good-natured irony about reality. Kosenkov calls his method “vivifying folly”, its main idea is to destroy the common world view and to transform it to the “world of absurd, broken relations and proportions, conventionalities, and therefore in some way desired and carefree world”.

Biography of the artist

Aleksandr Kosenkov was born in the Far East in 1959, graduated from the State Technical University in Novosibirsk and got the education at the workshop of the artist Natalya Chizhik. He is a member of the Union of Artists of Russia and the Association of Independent Artists named after “Bathing of a Red Horse” by Petrov-Vodkin. The artist participated in more than twenty group exhibitions, among them International Biennale of graphic arts in Novosibirsk (years 2001, 2003). Kosenkov held also personal exhibitions: “DIALOG №2” in Galerie Stricker in Aachen, Germany (2005), “Siberian Telescope” in Kadieff gallery in Helsinki, Finland (2009) and others. His works enrich the collections of many museums, including Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Nonconformists Art, Regional Art Museum in Tomsk, State Art Museum in Novosibirsk, private collections in Russia and abroad.