ArtMoscow 2025 Ksana Krasa

As part of the Gartellery exhibition, Ksenia Grishchenko's collages are juxtaposed with landscapes and still lifes by Sergey Otroshchenko. A Soviet-era artist, a prominent representative of socialist realism, a muralist who worked on murals of one of the VDNH pavilions, and a set designer who designed dozens of performances, Otroshchenko has shown great interest in folk culture since the 1960s. Traveling through the Carpathians and the Russian North, he studied preserved folk crafts, architecture, and most of all, unique ornaments that in the past permeated all art from decorating wooden huts to folk costumes and household items. His still lifes from the "Folk Art" series look like mosaic panels and this decorativeness unites them with collages by Ksenia Grishchenko. Another thread connects the two authors: at the beginning of her career, Ksenia learned the secrets of craftsmanship by copying the works of Sergei Otroshchenko under the guidance of his adopted daughter, artist and teacher Marina Gavrilenko. Thus, a teacher and a student meet in the same space, in whose works there is no imitation, but there is respect for the painting tradition of the past and the desire to continue the line of art in the future.