Conceptuality and Colour: New Tendencies in the Art of Yuri Pervushin

Yuri Pervushin debunks our stereotypes about his art as he uses new colour schemes and conceptual approach. The artist himself notes that he has deliberately left his usual, silvery-white colour scheme, based on similar tones. Although this affects the recognition of the artist's manner, it is interesting for Yuri Pervushin to experiment and develop in a new direction. Thus, the silvery and white tones familiar to the viewer are replaced by colour combinations which are new to Yuri Pervushin's works. This, in turn, determines the development of new tendencies in his artwork. A series of paintings with colourful yachts, for example, was inspired by a trip to the Netherlands.

Both early and recent artowrks by Yuri Pervushin are united by the artist's philosophical reasoning about the scale of the universe, every part of which exists according to the same laws. Yuri Pervushin considers that even the microcosm of a fragile flower is no less significant than the macrocosm of an entire galaxy. Developing his concept, the artist depicts a sunflower or a dandelion flower as the universe. It is no coincidence that some of Pervushin's artworks recall the shots from the early films of Sakurov or Tarkovsky. Closely, as if under a microscope, the artist studies the objects that surround us in everyday life: fruit and vegetables, toys - as memories from childhood, brushes and cans of paint... Yuri Pervushin carefully studies the textures and character of these objects, conveying tangibility of surfaces and inviting the viewers to immerse themselves in the life of simple things.

The artist is inspired by the modest beauty of Russian landscapes, endless fields and forests - he gives them a cosmic character. Landscapes from the series depicting the outskirts of Saint-Petersburg demonstrate meditative atmosphere of that area. In these works, the artist enhances the contrast, adds density, dark spots of color, which play an important compositional role. Yuri Pervushin never depicts people in his landscapes. However, according to the artist, the man always remains the center of the universe - in his work, the artist conveys the life of an ordinary person through the world and objects around them.
A special part of the exhibition is occupied by a series of graphic artworks, which have never been exhibited before. In the work of Yuri Pervushin, who graduated from the graphic faculty of the Academy of Arts named after I.Repin, graphic arts occupy significant place, just like painting. It is noteworthy that Yuri Pervushin's graphic art is not printed, these pieces are technically close to painting. The graphic arts series with views of the outskirts of Saint-Petersburg, for example, is entirely built on complex halftones. Each piece is painted in oil and acrylic on paper, sometimes with the addition of pastels. This technique implies multi-layering. Applying paint in two or four layers allows achieving the effect of vibrant air and space and to create a complex "geography" of the surface of the paintings.
The creative philosophy of Yuri Pervushin is to see the global beauty in the everyday life of the surrounding world and to feel its relationship with general processes, which take place in the Universe.