Artists Profile: Sergey Borisenko and Anastasiia Bekhtereva
Artists Profile: Sergey Borisenko and Anastasiia Bekhtereva
How Modern Psychedelic Art Becomes a Direct Social-Critical Statement
One of the most important tasks of modern psychedelic art is to articulate its own boundaries while simultaneously transcending them. If we approach the definition of contemporary psychedelic art in a stereotypical manner, this form of artistic practice may appear as something eclectic and vibrant, with clearly established aesthetic references and seemingly submerged in the era of the first four decades following the end of World War II. However, since the 1990s, contemporary psychedelic art has been engaged in a fruitful process of reinventing its foundations. What does psychedelia mean for the 21st century? The spirit of the Cold War or spiritual clichés, the aesthetics of psychonauts, or the artistic discoveries of adepts of a new non-religious aesthetic? Each noteworthy contemporary psychedelic artist independently finds answers to these questions, clearly determining the building blocks of their personal philosophy of modern psychedelic art. Today, we want to introduce you to two unique emerging artists who are inventing their own understanding of what modern psychedelic art should be.
Anastasiia Bekhtereva
Constructs by Anastasiia Bekhtereva
Abstract cold spaces, as if constructed with outdated 3D graphics software or hastily photographed random corrugated objects (likely building materials or craft supplies). The artist actively employs aesthetics of dream-like quality and deceptive expectations. Her artistic worlds seem to embody total abandonment but manifest through the gaze of the pioneer of these landscapes, which reference both ancient Greek myths and expressionism in European literature of the early 20th century. Despite their extreme minimalism, these spaces (depicted in polar perspectives and light conditions) appear hyper-realistic at first glance, yet completely alien and eerie upon further inspection, as if generated by nightmarish visions. The uncanny valley effect typically arises from contact with idiosyncratic and blurred human images; however, the artist compels us to experience a sense of unease when gazing at her spatial compositions, where the laws of space and time are violated in a non-trivial manner. Psychedelic artist Anastasiia Bekhtereva explores the limits of spatial generation inherent within ordinary human psychology. Her worlds are mysteriously incorrect yet alluring, rendered in a sterile hospital aesthetic, yet they transcend or ignore human space. In this series, a caustic social-critical intention is traced, urging people not to project painful feelings from their interactions with the liminal spaces of the modern urban environment onto the dream world.
Anastasiia Bekhtereva
Anti-Agitation by Sergey Borisenko
In his works, particularly in the series “Graphic Still Live,” Sergey Borisenko selflessly dissects and synthesizes modern forms of traditional psychedelic print graphics (such as rock concert posters, programs for avant-garde theatrical performances, psychedelic design codes, etc.). This project is both nostalgically retrospective and holds the potential for validating a new social tradition—the invention of the newest psychedelic print visual code. Borisenko’s works uphold and deconstruct many conventions of psychedelic printed material: literacy, structure, seriality, consistency, and relevance. Borisenko’s works are psychedelic performative bombs, capable of existing on the walls of buildings and in gallery spaces and being used in counterintuitive ways. Herein lies the subversive potential of the series, transgressively allowing things to fight back and refusing to be reduced to merely a few useful functions for people. Borisenko’s works speak to serious contemporary issues: the ecological agenda, migration crises, and the exhaustion of traditional psychedelic aesthetics while proposing a formalist revolution in understanding personal possibilities to perceive one’s own cosmic nature and finitude.
Anastasiia Bekhtereva
Sergey Borisenko
Sergey Borisenko
Sergey Borisenko
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