Pavel Pepperstein exhbition: Leviathan

Sutton Lane is pleased to present Pavel Pepperstein’s fourth solo exhibition at the gallery. On view is a new series of watercolours The Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster exhibited alongside works from the series Bikini 47 created in 2001.

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster series makes reference to the recent BP oil spill. The depictions of the ocean are fused with mythological figures and motifs associated with Suprematism.

Iconic signs from Russian art movements and political symbols are here re-enacted and set in the context of contemporary events. Abstract geometric forms such as Malevich’s black square and a Satyr from Greek mythology are being appropriated and layered with the narration of the recent oil spill crisis. The juxtaposition of signs and symbols, the use of cultural quotations and surrealist strategies are recurrent themes in Pepperstein’s work.

The critical engagement with contemporary culture and society is also present in the series Bikini 47 which refers to atomic bomb tests that the US conducted in the Pacific Ocean in the 1940s and 50s.