The first individual exhibition by Rem Khaidrakhmanov, a 33-year-old St Petersburg artist, has opened in the Dostoyevsky Apartment-Museum.
The author said his twenty-three paintings -- oil on canvas, charcoal, watercolor and lithographs -- do not belong to any particular style, but "show relations between the inner world of a person with what is around him."
"I wanted to destroy the stereotype of St Petersburg as a sad and gloomy city, and give it color -- sometimes red, bright blue, almost fluorescent," said Mr Khaidrakhmanov.
A smart bright channel, whose surface reflection gradually turns into the sky, is covered with symbols. The same symbols cover another picture, called "Signs" -- a fish-head with open mouth, dancing figures, and combs.
"I did not put any mystery in the characters. I just wanted to show those symbols which a person uses when thinking. People don't think with words only," said the artist.
One of the best paintings is "A man in the city", charcoal. Lost in a big city's endless circle of grey events, buildings and vanity fair, a depressed, dog-tired and lonely man is "a symbol of the frustration of a person in the city."
Much lighter but still ominous is the oil on canvas "Tea" -- a bear, a huge violet bird, one man with a green face and another with a bright pink one are not just sipping tea -- they are obviously contemplating some conspiracy against the world.
Seven lithographs on the "Apocalypse" describe the author's conception of the seven angels with trumpets, who announce devastation to the world on Doomsday -- dropping from heaven huge stones and stars, exotic black birds wheeling to earth, a dragon spitting flames and death waving its pike.
"Chanel."