Russian-born artist Sanya Kantarovsky creates art that can mesmerize, mislead, or even morph into a mushroom. He discusses his Venice exhibition, which showcases Christian symbolism and unsettling portrayals of children.
Kantarovsky’s paintings are populated by the disheveled and the imperfect: figures engaged in biting and pinning each other into submission, drawing blood, appearing entranced, or occasionally transforming into fungi. The otherworldly intensity that has characterized the 44-year-old’s work remains potent in his latest exhibition, “Basic Failure,” which recently debuted in Venice to coincide with the Biennale.
The exhibition is housed in Venice’s Institute of Sciences, Letters and Arts, a palazzo boasting high ceilings, dark, marble-patterned terrazzo floors, and walls adorned with antique books. It commences with the small portrait titled “Boy With Cigarette.” This piece depicts the thick-painted, pale, and downcast face of a young boy, outlined with darkening blue brushstrokes. His tendril-like fingers gently caress an unlit cigarette.
As Kantarovsky notes, his characters possess a duality: “They feel both familiar and kind of alien at the same time.” This somber image is juxtaposed with a nearby portrayal of youthful exuberance: a child spinning in place, her dress billowing upwards, seemingly unbound by any sense of embarrassment.