WHITE LOTUS
Last week the opening of the "White Lotus" exhibition took place at the Eastern Cultural Center. It is the first exhibition I have taken part in as an author.
The project was created by the curators Maria Reznichenko and Olga Lapshina. The exhibition designer is Alexandra Lagoyskaya. The exhibition is devoted to the color white, a symbol of purity, freshness and harmony. For me white was both a serious constraint and an interesting challenge. I had to look at my work anew and prepare several new pieces specially for the show.
Together with Yaroslav Terekhov we presented two different directions of contemporary origami at the exhibition. Yaroslav's works from the "Geography of Dreams" series represent abstract origami, while mine show the variety of representational origami. The curator of our part of the exhibition was Olga Lapshina.
Interestingly, the works of the Sogetsu school's "Art Ikebana" project also include paper elements. Because of that, a kind of dialogue of materials and forms arose between ikebana and origami.
At the opening there was a beautiful performance with pleasant music in the dark.
I enjoyed talking with visitors. As often happens at a first encounter with contemporary origami, many didn't believe that all the works were made from a single sheet of paper. Some took the models for porcelain from a distance, others thought they were assembled from several parts and glued together.
Sumi-e artists were curious to discuss the paper I use. For many it was a discovery that origami often uses the same rice paper as calligraphy and sumi-e. Such meetings and conversations are the most interesting part of exhibitions.
It matters to me to show that contemporary origami is a full-fledged art form with its own authors, techniques and artistic language.
There were many other interesting artists at the exhibition. I remember Anna Serebryakova's work "Element" and the "Lotuses" floor lamp by Olga Psalom's art studio, both made of wood!