Artist Statement

 

“Haute couture, as the embodiment of handcraft and talent, always stays with me and nourishes me. Sometimes it seems that nothing can serve as good inspiration as some interesting fashion items: their history, form, texture like ghosts come to me when I'm working and ask me to use them, imprint in my artwork. This often pushes me to create a comedy, sometimes ridiculously grotesque plot through which the tragedy of a person's experiences and anxieties, struggles with himself, and circumstances will be most vividly and acutely felt.

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I am interested in tearing off the character's mask opposite the mirror when a person is left alone with himself and his thoughts, yearnings, feelings. I use sexuality and nudity as a tool to show vulnerability, insecurity, and at the same time, passion, and thirst for life, which are eternally inseparable. With the help of chamber scenes in which the characters are left alone with their inner emotions, I want to talk about different degrees of accepting oneself and overcoming human complexes, pains, fears, which on the one hand make you feel vulnerable and helpless, and on the other, harden you and make you stronger.

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My paintings are greatly influenced by German literature and art and a childhood spent in Stuttgart and Berlin".

 

 

 

Biography

 

Russian artist Constantin (Costa) Gorelov received his formal education from the Moscow Institute of Television and Radio Broadcasting in the film (cinema) directing. He works as an artist, director, TV production designer, and as a fashion stylist. In his works, Constantin explores people’s feelings and psychological state, often depicting them through the interaction of the figure with space, items, and fashion. The last attribute is paramount to the artist’s self-expression. It is also a symbol linking epochs, times, and traditions.

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In his paintings, the artist mostly uses the wave technique of drawing with transparent oil to achieve the balance between transparency and color brightness. Shadows and halftones of internal lines produce smoothness of color transitions. Constantin then dilutes them with varnish and leaves only the colored surface. He uses the superposition of transparent colors on top of each other, adding new shades in each new layer to give them character and achieve depth.

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Constantin is a member of the Circle Foundation for the Arts. He received the Honored Artist Certificate in the “Artist of the Year 2020” contest conducted by this organization. He has participated in numerous exhibitions. One of his paintings, “Something About The Sea Locked Up,” is in the permanent collection at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia