вперед | forward
ERIK BULATOV
вперед | forward
Erik Bulatov’s epic-scale series ВПЕРЕД (FORWARD) traces the development of the artist’s response to the architecture and history of The Foundry after his first visit in July, 2015.
The series, in its entirety, features 28 preparatory sketches, nine artist models, four canvases and one sculpture. The word ВПЕРЕД is repeated throughout, four times in the monumental sculpture and twice in each canvas.
On the courtyard of The Foundry is the sculpture ВПЕРЕД , produced from black steel in Maubourguet, 2016. Responding to the exterior and interior of the building, the scale of the location determined the size of the installation. The land surrounding The Foundry was leveled with concrete and new external walls built.
ВПЕРЕД comprises 24 letters installed upright in a circle with one letter positioned horizontally. The internal face of each letter is painted in red matt enamel. The dimensions of each letter are 290 x 178 x 90 cm. The overall diameter of the installation measures 1820 cm. Four canvases are installed inside the building; three canvases measure 300 x 300 cm and one canvas comprises four 300 x 300 cm canvases, 600 x 600 cm overall.
The flat, three-dimensional letters of the sculpture respond to the external ‘social space’, creating a tension with the location. The sculpture becomes activated by the movement of individual, who is restricted within the interior of the circle. This investigation into space and motion reoccurs through the repetition of the word ВПЕРЕД on the two-dimensional canvases through the positioning of the colours white, red and black.
Photos by Andrei Molodkin, Gleb Kosorukov courtesy a/political
