Yuri Elperin
Degrees of Abstraction
January 17 - February 7, 2012
Reception:
Thursday January 19, 2012 6-8 PM
Press Release
Yuri Elperin is a skillful, talented practitioner of tachisme action-based painting whose busy canvases take inspiration as well from the great Lyrical Abstraction artists of post-WWII Europe. Elperin, who prefers to work on a scale of several feet across, fills his pieces with shapes and tangles resembling live wires in every color. Behind the layers of spirited lines, rolling shapes with a hint of eroticism dance across the shallow space. The energy is unmistakable.
Among the Latvian artist’s recurring inspirations are jazz improvisation and the complexity of courtship between lovers. Each artwork is named after a particular musical composition which inspired the artist. Of music’s instantaneousness, Elperin explains, “What I am trying to do is catch and freeze these ghostly images.” Though the artist experienced harsh art censorship in both his hometown of Riga and the Russian military, into which he was conscripted, he did not lose faith in the power of art to communicate. “These experiences,” Elperin declares, “have helped me discover a passion for combining intellectualist methodology and emotional and physical engagement in art.”
Artist Statement
When we listen to music, the transient vision of an image may form in the mind, though one does not see it consciously. Often, this unconscious vision appears... fades... forms again... I adopted Anthony Braxton's explanation of his Ghost Trance jazz compositions for my artwork: you are walking in a sea of fog in a dream... Suddenly you hear music… At first, you are unsure of the direction; the melody does not begin or end… You are trying to grab a line connecting you to the music… What I am trying to do is catch and freeze these ghostly images and then, through the tachisme style, connect the audience in a personal way to the musical compositions. The goal is to evoke feelings of the essence of a higher, more esoteric world. Most of my work is mixed media (acrylic over prints). I call my style "Ghost Trance Lyrical Abstraction."
Invitation to the exhibition
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Artists in this exhibition
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