The Paintings of Vadim B Between Chaos and the Archetype.
 

Examining the work of Vadim Bo, in particular his current works of the most mature period, it would be a mistake to link the experience of the artist to a definite, clearly defined direction in modern art (be that abstract, metaphysical painting, surrealism or something else).
The artist overcomes distinct differentiation and builds bridges between the Abstract and the Figurative, signs and imagery, Form and Infinity, the Overt and the Secret. He investigates boundaries, fine transitions and mutuality. That, which may at first be taken for aestheticism of experiments in formality and flexibility, shows that in essence he is inclined to meditative-exorcism. In an ideal situation, one should suppose knowledge of some kind of different worlds, in a similar way to being in a trance or on a "shamanˆs journey".
However, the artist can in no way be described as following the path of the radical avant-garde, which is often referred to as intellectual distraction and attempts to break away from tradition. Rather, he is beckoned by the spirit of traditional ethnic and sacral cultures with which he senses his inner kinship. Moments of spontaneity, the role of unforeseeable life experience, trust in the sudden moments of inspiration are all very important for the artist. Here the poetry of suggestion and the expressiveness of incompleteness and vagueness of expression and more precisely, the openness or open-endedness of the image.
At the moment, the flexible language of the artist is marked with great orderliness and emphasis on perfection. Here he is consequently, and apparently not incidentally, drawn to geometric shapes and
stricter forms of organisation of space than in earlier paintings. The artist readily introduces eternal motives of primary elements, such as the circle, sphere, cross, the classic Mandala and so on. But this geometry through the medium of painting is devoid of any rational interpretation and schematic severity. The living structure is maintained, lending itself to interpretation beaming through chromatic and textural wealth of the coloured strata of the painting with their scintillating, luminescent, vibrant vibrations.
The geometric constructions and primary shapes are used by the author as a framework in a similar way to scaffolding, order and force Chaos to do its work. As a result, the pictures in themselves and as a collected work welcome comparison with the Universe. Every new step in the painting of this author is one in a shamanˆs journey, running through an abundance of half-hidden worlds, comprehensible only in a state of profound contemplation. It does not even have clear place analogically on the multifaceted and many-tiered strata of the World Tree (of which the branch system could be likened to a geometrical net of fantastical structures, created by the master).
Here, each of the selected works of short distance receives its own Resonance, and in the same vein Meaning - not only the outline and imagery, but also light, colour, texture; all of this can be read as a Sign. An analogy can be drawn between this Painting and flexible ideography. However in contrast to traditional ideography, there is no rigid link to one sort of Sign or another, its strict definition or generally accepted meaning: everything is decided by context, the uniqueness of the situation and the fluid mutuality which is found between anything and everything. It is in this very fact that their attraction and distinctive strength is found.
Ultimate centrality and symmetry is rare in the works of this artist, with the one exception of "Anguish to Eternity". More often the construction of this author, at times reaching the intricacy of a labyrinth, is shown in the unevenness and heterogeneity of the internal division of space. The motif of the circle in itself, typical for classical Mandals, is more closely connected here with cosmic imagery - the moon and the sun (reminding one of the "Ying and Yang" symbol and the Pythagorean "music of spheres"). Everything is far from obvious; however there is a tangible discernibility about the particularly circular rhythm, gradually drawing nearer to the hidden centre. There, the long sought-for climax of the descent of the personal microcosm and macrocosm, to which little by little draw in verticals and horizontals, intersections and crossings of the routes of the intraimage. This rhythm binds together all the triangular segments in the entirety of a Unified Flow and become
s an analogy of the ascent along the Vertical. Here, it is fitting to remember the thought of Heidegger: "only the constant is variable".
 

Sergey Kuskov
Moscow

The signs of Vadim Bo

The natural inclination of the critic to find in the artist a place amongst the traditional styles, affix a definite "location" and attach a "label" in todayˆs world runs into obvious problems as the newest visual art comes in the form of an endless concoction of various styles, schools, trends and influences, collected under the accommodating roof of postmodernism. Any traditional definition seems ephemeral and blurry, any characteristic threatens to turn into its own contradiction and in any case, leaves beyond the brackets the intellectualism and spiritual tension, which are inherent in genuine works of art.
Intellectualism and spiritual tension are the two very qualities which characterise the art of Vadim Bo, who is representative of a new, ripened generation of Petersburgers. The artist builds his visual system on the re-examination and free interpretation of different historico-cultural signs, ladles out inspiration into eastern ethno-cultures, into Greek archaism and Palaeolithic cave paintings.
His work forms cycles, flowing into each other; some of them sparkling with childlike naivety, kindred spirits to Dadaism (and possibly Klee) others are illuminated by the spirit of Orthodoxy and the form of the Virgin Hodeigitria a prevailing theme throughout. At the same time, the symbolic perspective on the world of Vadim Bo is far from obtrusive didactics and from the verbatim tracing of popular notional representations, and in the same way distant from banal reflections of nature. Vadim Bo conveys his meaning through texture. He loves the deep and multi-layered examination of the canvass which becomes essentially the main component of his technical process, the widely implemented collage techniques, encompassing in his compositions dry leaves, coarse pieces of sacking with relief showing on the seams (he references Alberto Burri) pieces of driftwood and pieces of rust
encrusted metal and as seen in the cycle "The Letters of Others" old, washed-out photos, crumpled paper and sealing wax. From time to time he embeds cloths used for wiping brushes in the painting, opened (and empty) tubes of oil paint - these are unique artefacts secretly keeping the memory of the creation of the painting alive. The background of some of the canvasses reminds one of a wall with traces of crumbling plaster, in other cases - a dark backing board eaten away by time. "The Back of the Icon", "The Dark Boards of Bo", "the Virgin Hodeigitria", "Restoration", "Scorched Icons", "Retablos" - to name a few of the such titles of his painting cycles that speak for themselves, the main personage of which becomes time itself. The flexible idea of each of the works has its foundations on a deep felt mutual relationship between volume and flatness, on the collision of smooth, rugged and raised surfaces. At the same time, a row of objects and signs which may hold diverse forms
of ritual symbolism, including ancient and contemporary totems as well as letters and characters, is juxtaposed with abstract coloured patches and clearly outlined geometrical forms. It is not unusual, for example in the meditative cycle "The Absence of the Moon", "The Loss of the Nimbus", for the dominant form in the picture to become the circle, which is associated in the artistˆs mind with the Moon and the Sun.
The preferred colour range of Vadim Bo - warm and saturated to the maximum relates to the icons of the Yaroslav or Novgorod schools of Icon Painting. In many pictures the artist unites bright vermillion with dark ochre (from the cycles "Vermillion" and "Signs on Red") although sometimes into this tender duet boldly intrude chrome, emerald green or Prussian blue.
As amongst postmodernists of the elder generation, his spiritual neighbours, the pictures of Vadim Bo are almost abstract. The traditional symbols and signs, sometimes only elusively displayed, find their own life in them and their collision and juxtaposition are capable of awakening deep associations in the perceptive viewer, calling to meditation or concentrated contemplation.

Dmitri Severiukhin
Saint Petersburg