mArs Art Space announces:

“Preamble,” an exhibit of art by Tatyana Apraksina, opens on Monday, December 2, at 6:00 pm in the mArs Art Space gallery in St. Petersburg.

The artist’s first hometown exhibit after twenty-five-year pause will present works from the 80s and 90s — art with roots in a bygone era and which forms a preamble to a new search, a foundation for further discoveries.

The exhibit brings together works from various cycles by the artist. For instance, there are views of architecture’s casual side, the back lanes of St. Petersburg, from a series of drawings of courtyard scenes called “Gaze from Within.” Many spots depicted in the cycle no longer look the same or have even disappeared.

Another direction presented in the exhibit relates to the world of classical music, whose imagery offered Apraksina an ideal metaphor for spiritual development and realization. The paintings highlight the profound meaning of the human spirit seeking higher awareness.

Co-organized with the Etalon group as part of the joint project “Underground Reserve,” which focuses on the legacy of underground cultural movements in Leningrad-St. Peterburg, the exhibit will last one week.

December 2 to 7

Daily 12 p.m.-7 p.m.

Free admission

Field of Mars 3

Tatyana Apraksina began her career as an artist and connoisseur of culture in 1974, opening her home for participants in Leningrad’s underground cultural movements to communicate freely in an environment of mutual inspiration and support.

 

Classical music

In it, Apraksina found an ideal metaphor for spiritual development and realization. Her theme is always implicitly the evolutionary development of consciousness. “Model of the Mass,” “Time of Fruits,” “Weather Forecasts” and “The Quill of Aquinas” — paintings that seem to lead beyond the existing material context into the realm of abstract imagery — show the human spirit seeking higher awareness.

 

Tatyana Apraksina

• started as an artist and connoisseur of culture in 1974, was part of the Leningrad underground;
• in 1984 decided to live as an independent artist, devoting her attention for many years to the topic of classical music;
• has exhibited in Leningrad-Petersburg, Moscow and abroad;
• since the early 90s has written a range of works of literature and philosophy;
• since 1995 has been editor-in-chief of the magazine Apraksin Blues;
• since 1999 has developed bases for creative activity in America;
• in 2023 received the Babel Prize for Literature.

 

 

mArs Art Space reports:

The mArs gallery was filled yesterday with warmth and light from the paintings of Tatyana Apraksina at the opening of an exhibit of her works from the 80-90s, “Preamble,” part of “Underground Reserve,” a project jointly supported by the Etalon group.

Tatyana began her creative path in Leningrad during the heyday of underground rock culture. Her immediate circle included musicians from the groups Aquarium and Zoopark. The girl from Apraksin Lane served as a muse and co-author for the future rock idols of the 80s.

For just one week in St. Petersburg, you can see where it all began, how the preamble was written for Tatyana Apraksina’s artistic and creative development. First of all, there are paintings from her early series of monochrome city landscapes — abandoned buildings and courtyards, the view from the window of her studio at the Philharmonic.

Another significant part of the exhibit represents the creative period when the artist’s attention shifted from alternative aesthetics to classical music. The images of musicians, instruments, and notes combine an abstract style and a background of cosmic landscapes. The brushstrokes and dynamics of the figures resemble the movement of sound waves you can “hear” their oscillation when immersed in the painting.

For Tatyana, this is an important and long-awaited exhibit, when she can finally show her works in her hometown without censorship and oppression. Find time to visit and see this vibrant piece of the heritage of the Leningrad underground.

 

“Preamble”

December 2-7 | daily 12 p.m.-7 p.m.

Field of Mars 3 | free admission

 

On Thursday, December 5, we invite you to get to know Tatyana as a poet and listen to her poetry cycle “California Psalms.”