Puppet Theatre

I would like to present the textile picture Puppet Theatre, created in 2009, as an example from my gallery. The permanent puppet theatres found in every large Russian city and the Augsburger Puppenkiste were the inspiration for this work. The design is fixed before I begin, but the freedom to shape things spontaneously remains while painting. The puppets shown here look very much alive and remind us of people in costume. Theatre and the visual arts have always been inseparable, and so these hybrid beings of human, pattern and puppet show the whole range of theatrical expression: one is sad, one is laughing, and the exaggerated laugh of the third puppet comes as no surprise, because it makes the content of the picture clear to the viewer even without knowing the title. Recurring motifs are graphic lines, curls and spirals. They are the main characteristic of my work and an essential part of my art. The wavy lines look like stitched-on seams and so emphasise the puppet character. At the same time they create a softer transition to the background and soften the sharpness of the outlines. Here the ornament serves to structure and enliven the surfaces and figures and to set parts apart from each other or connect them. The spirals give the eyes a slightly heightened, psychedelic character. The expression lies somewhere between “open the lid” and “let’s do something crazy”.