Erarta Galleries Zurich is pleased to present the Christmas exhibition Paradeisos by artist Pavel Brat. Following a successful exhibition in Erarta St. Petersburg this artist will be featured at Erarta Galleries Zurich showcasing his latest works that have been receiving worldwide recognition and attention by major journals and collectors.

In the Paradeisos series Brat creates collages like no other, achieving an illusion of deconstructed depth. The young celebrated artist has strategically designed this series of collages consisting of beloved consumer products and unexpected atmosphere displayed on round canvas. Brat is creating abstract tondi referencing Renaissance paintings out of ads, fashion shoots and landscapes.

The artist`s favorite source materials are the pages of magazines: „Glossy mags became the source of material because they are so colourful. I think that illustrations in magazines have many hues that just need to be cut out, sorted and organized into a colour palette and then they will be ready for using in art works. That is how glamorous and expensive magazines became the basis for my work – the colours are just so intense.” Brat reworks his material by cutting the paper with an angle grinder and then further processing them into exclusive new pieces of torrents of temptation.

The seductive mass is reminiscent of a sort of “luxury compost” as a whole. Upon further examination, singular objects emerge as the eye admires the treasure like artworks. The whole experience is quite decadent as one gazes at the intricate detail that recounts a contemporary fashion fairytale of the objects and symbols in juxtaposition to one another. The crystal like structures often appearing could be symbols of pure and elusive knowledge, representing the divine, although they can also be tangible and menacing.

By using collage as a technique the artist lures us into his world where he is able to play with our sense of emotion and relationship to familiar objects of longing, power and beauty. The enchanting products materialize alone or at compositional intersections and then move out of sight and disappear among waves of fictional worlds. “Having been educated as a graphic designer, typography is everything for me. The process of format and proportions selection is a complicated business. I cannot just pick any configuration; I need an explanation of why one side relates to another one and in which proportion and scale. This is all quite complicated. In my opinion, such details are inseparable from aims and ideas that are conveyed by the overall project.” Such systems constitute additional levels of interpretation and curious viewers attempting to read and understand all the layers might get trapped in the complex worlds.

Here all the meanings of our consumerist society that have been cultivated into recognizable items are now emptied of value and used for building. In these artworks, Pavel Brat visualizes human ideas of paradise by showing consumer culture disappearing behind imaginary spirituality. All of Brat’s celestial images unconditionally follow this manifestation although it is actually a trap in paradise.

Pavel Brat was born on May 8, 1987 in Voronezh, Russia. In August 2010, he moved to St. Petersburg, where he lives and works in the space of the studio "Kitchen" (Kuhnya) by Belinsky, 9. Pavel Brat is a graduate of the educational program Pro Arte Foundation for Culture and Arts in St. Petersburg. He was nominated for the Sergey Kuryokhin Modern Art Award 2013 in the category «Best Work of Visual Art».

Erarta Gallery
Gerbergasse 6
Zürich CH 8001 Switzerland
Ph. +41 (0)43 3446040
zurich@erartagalleries.com
www.erartagalleries.com

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