Gennady Zubkov: Prismatic at Erarta Gallery

Prismatic paintings are works that remind you of other painters, and of other art. Think Russian painters and perhaps what comes to mind are the beautiful colours of Kandinsky, the world scattered into pattern like stained glass, or fractured geometry.

Errata Gallery is currently exhibiting Russian artists, some of whom are well-established yet less well-known in London. Gennady Zubkov is an internationally-renowned artist, and although these paintings may seem retrospective at first glance, what Zubkov does is choose to continue the great Russian tradition of painting within ideological theories, to continue the ideas of Cubism and the Avant-Garde. His own theory is “form creates form”, a concept which is endlessly fruitful.

The dates of paintings reveal that Zubkov is the kind of painter who returns to works after years, allowing ideas to evolve on canvas; one of his pieces, Crystal Landscape, was painted between 1978 and 2007.

To say these works are not the cutting edge of painting is not necessarily a criticism. These ideas in the imagery are not exhausted, and although one might guess they were painted at a previous time, the ideas remain current, and the exploration of relationships between form, space and colour are still relevant in art.

Prismatic is an apt title for Zubkov’s view. Attractive, fractured colours and shapes hold your gaze and stimulate interpretation, allowing the viewer to see more layers and shades of meaning, and consequently further complexity emerges from the apparently simple forms.

Eleanor MacFarlane

Gennady Zubkov: Prismatic is at the Erarta Gallery until 12^th January 2013. For further information or to book visit the gallery’s website here.