Harmonic wood with a `new life'

It is hard to find the right words to describe the sculptures at the new exhibition atthe New Symbolists Gallery, apartment 77, Pushkinskaya 10.

Gregory Nevsky's productions are composed out of fragments of different sizes and sorts of wood, "which are put together in some harmonic balance of rhythm, length and light -- like in the work of a designer or of a musician," according to Lelya Gostintseva, Gallery 77's director.

A square stump and a construction of thin wooden planks on it are elaborately connected. The upper plank is topped by something that resembles a violin -- "The Art of the Fugue."

"There are several elements in the sculpture, several plots, like [Johann Sebastian] Bach had in his music, and together they form polygamy," said the artist about his creation.

About a dozen works are presented at Nevsky's first personal exhibition, most of them small, geometrical coompositions of wooden picture frames.

"Where do I get the wood?" he said. "It is everywhere -- it was distributed by God around the Earth. I only collect it, remove the extra bits and give it a new life."

Nevsky, 49, started participating actively in exhibitions only in the past three years, becoming a member of the Union of Artists of Russia. Some of his works were bought by the Russian Museum. (SPP)



© 1996 St Petersburg Press