Take Off the Mask, Take Off the Hat is a duo show of Alexandra Sukhareva and Denis Koshkarev. Sukhareva has embarked on personal experimentation with toxic materials and substances, testing the corrosive capacity of liquids in combination with a variety of media. She has worked on canvas using chlorine to imprint and burn the surface.
“The fear of light is not immediately noticeable. I remember the time when I experienced it vividly. On a winter evening, as the night was setting in, I went around the house to turn on the lights. To my surprise, the light not only failed to dispel the darkness, but it also seemed to bring its own haze. The brighter the light was, the less it was able to illuminate anything, create a sense of space, and ultimately distinguish between light and darkness. On canvases, once I have finished sticking the lines, the power of photons begins to take effect. Without photons, there can be no imprint. Moreover, the longer the exposure or the brighter the light that falls on the linen, the brighter the trace. As for chlorine, it only accelerates the process of routine burning, which occurs at any time of day. I rarely transfer the sketches I draw onto canvas. All the elements that can be found in a drawing —human touch, the force of desire, and the tone expressed — disappear under the light. The only thing that has ever helped preserve the difference in tone is something like a simple mask. Of all the options, canvases ultimately only show the confrontation between all-consuming light and, if the mask can withstand the confrontation, the (temporary) shadow beneath it. Denis’s drawings gave me a reason advance in interpreting the “aporia of light.”
– Alexandra Sukhareva
