vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #157 / Arts and Ideas / Reading article...

As a product of Soviet society, Andrei Kamalov was not raised as a good Christian. Yet religion is reflected in his pictures in a very original way.

The highlight of his solo exhibition, which recently opened in the Artetazh picture gallery, is Jesus’ hand, raised in a blessing, painted on wood like an icon. The gesture is echoed in many drawings, collages and images of people's hands: the twisted hand of a sick man who tries to hold his fingers together, a hand from a page from a book of Soviet proverbs and sayings. So many strive to master the gesture, but the results are not always beautiful, the display suggests.

Kamalov brought for the show the best works from various exhibitions since the early 1980s, so one can see both the variety of techniques he used and styles he was fascinated with that time. An early self-portrait and portrait of the artist Victor Shlikht are obviously influenced by world painting traditions, but the images are alive and thrilling. Kamalov is as good working in oils as he is in drawing.

The seashells from the series of engravings look like spaceships or fantastic cities of an inhuman nature. Russian folk lore turns into something unique on a big painting titled "The Sun-Pancake." People transform into animals, fish and other creatures.

Some drawings which look like familiar book illustrations are not that exciting: Tourists can find similar works in any souvenir shop. But a huge picture of an apartment block divided into cells mocks socialist realism: People live out their ordinary miserable life there. They fight, go to bed, hug each other, but in almost in every cell there is a TV set showing Big Brother. Kamalov is more interested in different manifestations of the crowd's life, rather than the individual. His subjects include both down-to-earth social issues and allegorical involvement in nature’s processes.

The exhibition runs through Jan. 20, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. except Mondays, 22 Svetlanskaya St., Artetazh, first floor. Telephone: 22-98-18