Categories

silent monuments of an empty city/ Valentin Boiangiu

4 Comments
  1. Avatar photo
    Cynthia Fusillo

    Valentin! I love these paintings! thank you. I also am influenced by my surroundings, hence, love to travel to different cultures.

  2. Avatar photo
    Anastasia Patsey

    Dear Valentin,
    I really enjoyed looking at your paintings. Thank for sharing!
    So what actually are these objects meant for? Flowers? Trash? Sculptures? It’s hard to say. Some of them look like some dystopian city decorations.
    Also, what are the sizes of the works?

    Best,
    Anastasia

    1. Avatar photo
      Valentin Boiangiu

      Thanks for your kind comments. I guess they once served as decorative street furniture, which, I noticed in Russia they were placed in residential areas, between alleyways around the blocks of flats. I was told they were made in the Soviet time and initially they had plants and flowers inside. Some people were looking after them. Now they are still around as they are heavy (made of concrete and still containing soil inside, most of them), but they serve more for blocking traffic or stopping car parking. They are half neglected because now and again someone must apply a fresh coat of paint in whatever colour they fancy, never respecting the colour underneath. So, I guess we are dealing with some level of vernacular creativity. There is a whole universe of the folklore of expressions with these things, very overlooked but fascinating.
      The square paintings are 20x20cm, rectangular ones are 30x20cm and the round one is 30cmD. Domestic sizes produced inside an apartment, which is rented.

      1. Avatar photo
        Anastasia Patsey

        Thank you for the comment! These objects appear quite symbolic when you think of them as rudiments of the past. As for the repainting — this is a whole thing in Russia. Very often they choose a similar colour, but still very different from the original one unwillingly creating beautiful abstract paintings. Some of them are collected online with the hashtag #urbanrothko.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Virtual residents