THE TSUKANOV ART COLLECTION

 

Shablavin Sergei

 “I asked myself: “Why draw in rectangles?” I tried to doubt the foundations of usual painting… In our consciousness we have a lot of momentum, which is impressed on us by culture, from which we, in principle, suffer.”

Born in 1944

The artistic career of Sergei Petrovich Shablavin began in the 1960s with abstract paintings and graphics. In the beginning of the 1970s, after meeting Erik Bulatov and Oleg Vasilyev, Sergei Shablavin’s style changed, letters with geometrically exact composition, characteristic for Moscow conceptualists combined with a realistic style appeared in the artist’s work. Following in Erik Bulatov’s steps, the artist’s attention was attracted to the inner space of the painting, its relationship with reality and the viewer’s perception. In his own artistic explorations Sergei Shablavin came upon the form of a circle, which is used quite rarely in figurative art. “On a round canvas it is possible to show space as convex and cratered, it’s possible to create the form of a bagel. When I saw these forms, then I began to dress them in images, like clothing” noted the artist.


“In some ways resembling a mixture of Bulatov and Vasilyev, Shablavin draws realistic landscapes with graphical deformations, optical illusions and a lack of emotion…
In 1970 the artist set himself the difficult task of stuffing in more than any painting could contain. He painted hyper-realistic landscapes, often putting them on a circular canvas, locking in this strange format.»
Vika Samsonova
 
The artist's work can be found in the following museums and collections:
Arrival
Contemporary Art Museum