Andrey Kartashov, Sorrow of the Red Austin..., 2023, Giclée Print on Canvas

The Symbolic still life is a reflection on the structure of society through «Toy Story». Standing on the pedestal of society, which in the still life is presented by an old camera, (with allusions to the media, ready to gaze admiringly at those on the pedestal through the lenses) is the muscular «master of life», a winner in whom one can easily recognize the features of a cult movie hero. And yet in contrast to him, as if striving to go beyond the format, socially marginalized, there is the jester, whose gaze, colors of the clothes and frozen foot movement, are bright and light. But, looking closely, we realize that this is the puppet T1000. The «mercury» cyborg, capable of taking any appearance, first of all copying the one of police officer Austin whom he killed ... What is victory and what is defeat? Why are his clothes red? What is his sadness about? Who is the leader and who is the outsider? Prettiness as well as brutality, even puppet-like, can be deceptive... As the entourage of the situation there serve the copper, shining like pipes, Chinese smoking pipes from the time of the «opium wars» and a dried bouquet of roses, symbolizing the rise and fall of earthly glory. And the candleholder standing between the pipes serves as a biblical reminder: «Let your lamps be burning at all times». The connecting thread of the times is the photographs of the film characters from the past, taking us back to a time when the lens was not a PR crystal ball, but a wise eye of memory. Andrey Kartashov graduated from the A. Erdely Professional College of Arts of the Transcarpathian Academy of Arts in Uzhgorod, and later graduated from the Department of Painting of the Repin St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. Since 2007, he has been a member of the Portrait Painters Association of America (PSA), and in 2016, he joined the Union of Artists of Russia. His works are represented in the collections of the Research Museum of the Russian Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, Tianjin Museum, and Liu Haisu Museum of Art in China, Arnold Schwarzenegger Museum in Austria, as well as in private collections of collectors from Russia, the UK, the USA, China, Ukraine, Poland, France, and the Netherlands. Produced using more forward-going technologies like the Metis scanner, which allows for printing out excellent quality art pieces it becomes a high-class, exclusive art piece. Height: 80 cm Width: 150 cm