Lot 148: f - Dmitry Shorin , b.1971 Seventh Heaven oil on canvas

signed in Cyrillic and dated 2007 l.l.; further titled in Cyrillic on reverse oil on canvas

150 by 146cm., 59 by 57 1/2 in.

Moscow, Fine Art Gallery, Chastitela, 2007

To be included in the forthcoming Exhibition Catalogue Dmitri Shorin in the Russian Museum, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg: Palace Editions, 2008

Widely experimenting with figurative painting, Shorin achieved his artistic breakthrough in 2000, creating the large-format series of works titled Catastrophes. Reminiscent of cropped photographs or close-ups taken from a movie, Shorin's compositions immediately reveal the artist's fascination with photography and film. His "isolated shots" challenge the viewer to work out the narrative behind them, leaving us with a feeling of elusiveness yet at the same time allowing complete freedom of interpretation. In the explicitly erotic Seventh Heaven, Shorin plays with the literal and metaphorical meaning of the expression to create an unexpected and very striking juxtaposition of protagonists.