Dmitri Plavinsky

(Russian, 1937-2012)

Nature morte au crâne et au chalumeau/ Still life with a skull and a blowtorch sans cadre

Footnotes

Provenance
Acquired directly from the artist in 1970s
Private collection, Italy


Dmitry Plavinsky, a singular artist amid the Moscow nonconformists, perpetually gravitated towards "cosmic themes" - history and nature, creation and destruction, humanity and chaos. Plavinsky himself coined the direction his art took as "structural symbolism," considering its cardinal trait the Russian worldview. He believed that a work of art springs from the overlaying, collision, and dislodging of symbols, configuring itself as a system of ciphers and hieroglyphs, veiling the artist's ego and not always readily deciphered.
Over time, Plavinsky's opus grew ever more elaborate with the inclusion of an abundance of technically complex textures embedded within painterly bodies: sundry articles, from foliage and dried blossoms to fish bones and crucifixes to antique decorative fittings (which remains uncertain whether they are genuine or moulded from plaster and tempera media). His pieces developed thematically too, with the inclusion of the timeless questions of life and death, generating a synthesis of past glory and beauty. As the artist himself expressed, "Art is a fragile, sick bloom sprouting from the vestiges of titanic human cultures long vanished. I can relay the lethally mesmeric draw this flower exacts, discern it amidst a sea of kin, yet penetrating its essence lies beyond my power. It is a sacrosanct arcanum - to touch it brings calamity upon the creator."
The present painting presents a rare and peerless example of Plavinsky's mature phase. Its impasto surface vibrantly tangible, while textural minutiae like the circular perforations and earthen tonality remain archetypal of the Plavinsky oeuvre. At core, the subject is metaphorical. By fusing manmade artifacts with lifeless natura, he partakes in the Western vanitas. Plavinsky's "narrative" dwells in perpetuity; moods of arrested time and melancholy reign, the symbolic import assuming primacy. For him, any design or form wrought by Nature or human hands constitutes but shards of a unitary symbol, essential instruments to sound the cosmos. In this light, the painting aligns with Plavinsky's overarching philosophy, operating itself as an emblem-symbol.
Plavinsky viscous oil paints, laying his pigments in stratified films. His complex, weighty palette favored ochres and umbers, limning the gilded jewelry in contrasting cold silvers and whites.