Maxim Ksuta

Inspiration can be found in the most unexpected places. For me, it came in the form of the colorful compositions left on walls and fences after anonymous painters, employed by the municipal services, paint over graffiti deemed undesirable by the city authorities.

However, instead of completely erasing the traces of street art, they always leave behind strange stains, sometimes resembling landscapes. This phenomenon made me reflect on the nature of memory, its instability, and abstractness.

In my works, I tried to embody this idea visually, creating abstract images that evoke a sense of familiarity, yet leave room for interpretation. Each painting is a combination of blurred shapes and colors that may remind one of something familiar, yet not fully discernible.

Through working with texture and layers of paint, I aimed to convey the complexity of the process of remembering. After all, the paintings are not an accurate representation of a specific moment or place but rather an abstract reflection of the state of consciousness in the process of trying to recall something lost. The viewer is given complete freedom for individual interpretation.

The video presented at the exhibition is a slideshow of my photographs uploaded to the now-banned social network Instagram over the past 12 years. Each frame in this photo archive becomes a link in time and flashes by so quickly that it is impossible to see all the details. This effect is similar to how our memory sometimes changes and inaccurately reproduces old moments.