Seven
Modern interpretation of the classic Western scheme of the seven deadly sins: Superbia (Pride), Invidia (Envy), Ira (Anger), Acedia (Despondency),
Avaritia (Avarice), Gula (Gluttony), Luxuria (Lust).
Avaritia (Avarice), Gula (Gluttony), Luxuria (Lust).
«Seven» is the name of a series of etchings by Tanya Pioniker. The number seven is highly symbolic in European culture. And this symbolism arose in the Middle Ages under the influence of Christian discourse. The number "seven" conveys the idea of completeness and totality: seven days - the cycle of divine creation, a week, seven - the number of virtues, seven - the number of deadly sins. The millennialists prophesied that earthly existence would last six thousand years, and on the seventh thousand a good life for the righteous would begin, after which the Last Judgment would take place. The chosen ones will be granted paradise, and the sinners - hell.
The etchings presented at the exhibition re-actualize the theme of sin in our seemingly secular post-meta-modernist globalized society. Mutants, devils, trolls, demons and other bizarre creatures are an integral part of visual culture - heroes of cinema, animation, books, video games, popular memes in social networks. Where did these images come from? What is their genealogy? What ideas are demonstrated through grotesque, scary and hilarious hybrid monsters?
Traditionally, a sin does not come alone, but entails a myriad of other bad deeds. For medieval artists, hybridity and monstrosity became a technique for visualizing various shades of sinfulness. However, even the Middle Ages didn't just condemn sin. They reckoned with it, granting it a way out and relaxation in crazy carnival celebrations. The era of romanticism undertook a revision of the complex centuries-old relationship of order and disorder. Surrealism invented a new (un) order and a new morality, re-actualizing bizarre synthetic and hybrid images in the context of modernity. So what does returning to these images mean today? Perhaps this is the main question posed and asked by the «Seven» series.
The etchings presented at the exhibition re-actualize the theme of sin in our seemingly secular post-meta-modernist globalized society. Mutants, devils, trolls, demons and other bizarre creatures are an integral part of visual culture - heroes of cinema, animation, books, video games, popular memes in social networks. Where did these images come from? What is their genealogy? What ideas are demonstrated through grotesque, scary and hilarious hybrid monsters?
Traditionally, a sin does not come alone, but entails a myriad of other bad deeds. For medieval artists, hybridity and monstrosity became a technique for visualizing various shades of sinfulness. However, even the Middle Ages didn't just condemn sin. They reckoned with it, granting it a way out and relaxation in crazy carnival celebrations. The era of romanticism undertook a revision of the complex centuries-old relationship of order and disorder. Surrealism invented a new (un) order and a new morality, re-actualizing bizarre synthetic and hybrid images in the context of modernity. So what does returning to these images mean today? Perhaps this is the main question posed and asked by the «Seven» series.
Seven, 2020
Watercolor, watercolor pencils, ink, red wine, artist's blood, semiprecious stones, insects, hair on paper
Ø 18 cm (each part)
Watercolor, watercolor pencils, ink, red wine, artist's blood, semiprecious stones, insects, hair on paper
Ø 18 cm (each part)
Etching
Etchings presented at the exhibition tell us about the seven deadly sins. Bright, dynamic, colorful and carnivalesque, we immerse into a world that combines themes and techniques of old masters with the new digital technologies, consumer society, consumerism values, fueled by various ideologies. Atmosphere and style of etchings give rise to associations with the intricate universe of the medieval "surrealist" artist Hieronymus Bosch and the adherent of his aesthetics — Pieter Bruegel the Elder, with the worlds of Martin Schongauer and Albrecht Durer. The intimacy and laconicism of the drawing reveal an unexpected relationship with the paintings of conceptualists Dmitry Prigov, Ilya Kabakov, Pavel Pepperstein and Mikhail Shemyakin.
All works are performed in the etching technique, in the shape of a rondo. A certain sin is signed on the banner ribbon in Latin, written in Gothic script, and a Russian-language motto is displayed on the margins of the rondo. Sins, inscribed in a circle, take on the form of completeness and totality. Since the Middle Ages, the form of rondo in painting has been associated with the image of the world and a mirror, every viewer can look into. And travesty, ridicule of sin — a rhetorical device of both street theaters and paintings by classical masters — becomes the recurrent theme of engravings. Satire and social criticism, morality and visual comedy, found in a previously unprecedented and emerging mode of existence, are the code of the New Middle Ages and the exhibition "Seven".
All works are performed in the etching technique, in the shape of a rondo. A certain sin is signed on the banner ribbon in Latin, written in Gothic script, and a Russian-language motto is displayed on the margins of the rondo. Sins, inscribed in a circle, take on the form of completeness and totality. Since the Middle Ages, the form of rondo in painting has been associated with the image of the world and a mirror, every viewer can look into. And travesty, ridicule of sin — a rhetorical device of both street theaters and paintings by classical masters — becomes the recurrent theme of engravings. Satire and social criticism, morality and visual comedy, found in a previously unprecedented and emerging mode of existence, are the code of the New Middle Ages and the exhibition "Seven".
Etching (from French eau-forte — literally "strong water", also nitric acid) is an engraving on metal, made using intaglio printing technique. This technique is associated with physically complex and painstaking manual work. To make a printing plate, a polished metal plate made of zinc, iron or copper is taken, it is covered with a thin layer of acid-resistant varnish using a roller. After that, the surface of the plate is smoked so that scratched strokes and lines are better visible on a dark background. The artist transfers a preparatory drawing to the plate with the help of tracing paper. Further, using a special etching needle, the varnish is scratched up to the metal surface — thanks to this, the lines and strokes of the original drawing become visible against the background of dark varnish. The patterned plate is immersed in an acid bath. Next, a slow etching process begins, allowing the pattern to be developed with greater or lesser intensity, which will eventually give a different tone strength on the print. The process is not over yet: printing ink is rubbed into the recessed strokes of the plate with a squeegee. The printing plate is then covered with a lightly moistened sheet of thick etching paper and rolled on an etching press with a cylindrical shaft. Under pressure, the wet paper pulls the ink out of the deepened strokes and the pattern in a mirror image is transferred to the paper in the most accurate way. Etching has been known since the beginning of the 16th century; many classical masters worked in this technique: Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt.
Pride (Superbia) — a series of sins begins with it. In the Middle Ages, they believed that exactly pride was the first impulse which led to all subsequent sins: because of pride, Lucifer rebelled against God and was cast down from heaven into hell, becoming the master of the underworld. Puffed up, Eve violated the ban on eating the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. For centuries, pride has been considered the root of evil in human nature. Scarlet lips, a long swan neck, peacock feathers, a crown — and in this way the beauty turns into a hybrid monster. At first glance, we might see an allusion to the Sirin bird, the phoenix, a bird that was considered in the Middle Ages a symbol of Christ. But the back of this Sphinx exposes its demonic grin. A mirror in a clawed paw is an attribute of pride and vanity, condemned since the Middle Ages. The proud bird is narcissistically obsessed with the likes that its backside collects while holding a selfie stick. Along the edges of the rondo it is signed: "eyes, look, like, subscribe." These slogans are the reincarnation of the sin of pride in the era of global digital media that lure people into the web of pride.
Envy (Invidia) distorts facial features — crooked lips, evil eyebrows, makes the body mutate, turning a woman into a poisonous dragon-like snake. Her face turns into the image of the evil Gorgon Medusa. Envy looks into the mirror of the digital world, her desire for fame promises a broken heart — 0 likes. The serpent is certainly one of the most negative images for Medieval art and European civilization — a tempter, a devil, a vicious creature. Signature on the rondo: "snakes, dislikes."
Anger (Ira) — represented through the image of two-headed monstrous serpentine birds: the body of a fighting cock, the wings of a dragon, the legs and claws of a lion, the tail of a lizard — markers of aggression and enmity. This basilisk is an allegory of the power ambitions that a person is obsessed with. The right side of the demonic creature — imperialism is such, in one paw — an orb, in the other — a scepter that pierced the bleeding heart. A black banner-flag extends from a metal military helmet, marking the darkness of terror. The hordes of cockroaches are an army that realizes the militaristic intentions of sin: the signature on the rondo, "cockroaches, little people." A new creature crawls out of the anus of the hybrid — with a sickle in its beak and a Budenovka on its head.
Sloth (Acedia): A toad-like hypochondriac with a thermometer under his arm, a heating pad in his legs and a nightcap indulges in selfless despondency, plunging into the world of his mobile phone through headphones. Near his bed a real mess: bottles, cigarette butts. The turtle stops the hands of the clock, as sloth devours the time of life, disappearing without a trace in inaction and idleness. "Tears, tears" — signed on the rondo — exactly tears are promised by voluntary and passive vegetating in captivity of sadness and apathy.
With a branded Louis Vuitton bag over his shoulder, Avaritia flies through the boundless firmament of the universe. He is trying to collect all the stars. The Sun is also in his demonic paw. The signature on the rondo is read diagonally: "the Sun — and all the stars — all mine". There is no limit to the sin of greed. Unquenchable thirst produces the desire to have more and more. An all-consuming anus of the creature, in the "pit" of which there is a heart-shape star: this organ is vital in the case of greed, absorbing everything on its way, not missing a single opportunity.
The demonic bloated mouse gives in to the sin of Gluttony (Gula). Berries and fruits in the context of late Medieval art are associated with the image of carnal eating, exorbitant desires and bodily pleasures. Abuse of earthly goods leads to gluttony. The glutton adapted the planet Earth for a well-known plumbing convenience, which is turning into a latrine of a consumer society. The flies on the edges of the rondo and on the cherry remind us of "vanitas" and "memento mori" still life artworks: everything bodily and mundane is vanity of vanities. Therefore, the signature on the rondo is: "berries, flies".
The sin of lust (Luxuria) is an androgynous image of permanent intercourse. A bizarre vicious character reclining on a velvet pillow, next to which a snail crawls. The snail is a unique self-reproducing creature that combines the male and female principles. Lust is a fixation on sex, reducing everything to a single insatiable desire. "Snails, hairs" — the signature on the rondo.
«Seven», colored etching, 2021
Fabriano Tiepolo paper, etching, aquatint, illuminated with watercolor, watercolor pencils, ink and artist's blood.
Image Ø 18 cm. Sheet 47х47 cm. (Edition of 3. AP)
Fabriano Tiepolo paper, etching, aquatint, illuminated with watercolor, watercolor pencils, ink and artist's blood.
Image Ø 18 cm. Sheet 47х47 cm. (Edition of 3. AP)
«Seven», b/w etching, 2021
Fabriano Tiepolo paper, etching, aquatint.
Image Ø 18 cm. Sheet 47х47 cm. (Edition of 6)
Fabriano Tiepolo paper, etching, aquatint.
Image Ø 18 cm. Sheet 47х47 cm. (Edition of 6)
Exhibition view
JART Gallery, 2021
Moscow, Russia
Moscow, Russia
