Alexander Sukholit. Trip to Egypt

Alexander Sukholit is an artist whose creations comprise the undertones of many artistic epochs. His searches of expressions are never chronologically consistent: having explored the Antiquity, he dives into the archaic art, the Paleolithic. After that, he returns to Byzantine Empire and Christian iconography. However, the knowledge he obtained can be traced only in subtle tones that complement the general narration of his works.

Alexander Sukholit graduated from the institute in 1986. By that time, he had become proficient in the Antique art. Alexander then turned to the more ancient art – that of Egypt. His “journey to Egypt” was based on the plastic perception of sculpture and relief. Sukholit studied the genuineness and liveliness of the Antiquity. After that be was drawn to the laconic plastics of the forms of Egyptian art.

The view of the world of Egyptian artists is at the core of the mentioned plastics. They saw the purpose of their work not in representing the reality by means of art, but in shaping the hidden essence of the depicted. The artists of the Ancient Egypt followed the canon dictated by the myth-based beliefs centered around the cult of the afterlife. The being and the appearance were “condensed” and subjected to the material – the stone. The form, size, colour and even the material were subject to a strict system of symbolic meanings. The art in Ancient Egypt connected the Earthy reality with the mythical and otherworldly.

However, Alexander Sukholit often says: “I am not an Egyptian man”. During his “journey”, he borrowed only the artistic language. The mythology of Egypt was and remains strange to him. Some of his works created in late 80s can only formally be classified as “Egyptian” and these include the subtle reliefs carved out in plaster or marble blocks. The depictions on them are quite laconic and the sculptural form is created just by a line.

Speaking about a line, the artist notes that it should be drawn in such a way to make the background unnecessary. A contour carved out in a stone, a drawing emerging from a form are Sukholit’s images. These artworks demonstrate how subtle the difference between a relief and a drawing is. As the artist himself notes, “… When a drawing finishes, a relief starts…”