Vladyslav Riaboshtan (UR)

The Tunnel

153 x 210 cm

In my recent work, I work with themes of war, seeking refuge, things that changed people’s perceptions after the war. I would like to show how this experience has changed the direction of my art. Before the war, I painted the subway as a mysterious place – a transport for people in big cities and a setting for a criminal underworld. For example, tunnels those lead somewhere, with a lot of intersections and technical zones, thinking about what they are made for. However, they all have a certain reason for their existence, their function, their purpose.

A person appears, not only as a user of the infrastructure, but as a subject riddled with choices. In addition to moving along set routes, there is a need for orientation and search. Each of the paths leads to a new perspective, into the depths of a space, which cannot be seen in advance. It is difficult to know which path will be more or less successful, as well as to decide whether to stay in place at all. In many places, space and form are deformed. Sometimes there is only a single corridor – with light at the end of the tunnel or, conversely, with darkness. Our current reality today only pushes us to think about the underworld and the continuation of existence underground. These thoughts are difficult to ignore; they are at the same time thoughts about death and the end, as well as about life – but in a different reality and under different conditions. One tries to adapt to new challenges and new choices in this perspective, the conditions for which are constantly changing.

(25/25)