Border Markers in the Structure of Paintings by the Artist Sergey Gavrilyachenko

Abstract

The article examines the borders of the subject-spatial environment in the structure of paintings and identifies their functions. The object of the study is the elements of the compositional structure in the works of Sergey Aleksandrovich Gavrilyachenko, People’s Artist of the Russian Federation, and their border markers. The article aims to show how objects with stable connotations in cultural contexts allow the artist to transmit his idea. There is noted that the images of the window, the frame, the doorway have a meaningful symbolism. The author examines several painting cycles of the artist. The threshold world is understood as the limit beyond which the time border that determines the life cycle becomes visible. The artist’s metalanguage can be seen in the functioning features of the prodigal son motif in his works “The House Is Empty. The Last Bow” (2014), “Before Your Own Unfamiliar Windows. The Prodigal Son” (2015). The article notes that the threshold can be a meeting place and a place of farewell, for example in “The Last Departure” (2013). The author explores the dual space of the painting “Major’s Marriage Proposal” (2009) through the prism of the compositional frame, which, by isolating the parts of the narrative, makes it possible to view the images of the artistic whole as independent, included in their own storyline. The article reviews the characters’ connection with metatypes containing the memory of culture. A look at the works of the artist S.A Gavrilyachenko through the prism of the border enriches the idea of the border as a phenomenon of artistic language. The observations undertaken make it possible to see how the form allows the artist to actualize his aesthetic views.