One more player on the London art scene has presented its debut exhibition! Serene gallery has unveiled ‘I Promise to Stay With You’. This is the first UK exhibition for Serene, a contemporary art gallery,founded by curator Alexandr Blanar in Lugano in 2022. The opening night brought together a vibrant community of collectors, fashion industry representatives, artists and art professionals. It was obvious from the queue that gathered at Cromwell Place that the exhibition was highly anticipated in London.
AlexandrBlanar presented to a sophisticated audience six contemporary artists working in different techniques: KonradWyrebek, Mariano Vivanco, Yelena Popova, Augusta Alexander, Martin Kovalenko and PolinaOsipova. “I Promise to Stay With You” is an invitation to discover the beauty behind inner turmoil and complex emotions.
The exhibition evokes a whole range of feelings in the viewer, from calmness to anxiety. The works by PolinaOsipova and Mariano Vivanco immerse the viewer in a state of contemplation of the beauty of the body and nature and coming back to childhood memories.
Vivancohas created some of the most iconic imagery of the last two decades. A skilled use of colours and light marks his work. It has been featured in some of the world’s leading publications, including Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Hero/Heroine, GQ, Man About Town and King Kong. Three of his signature portraits were bought into the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Polina is a multidisciplinary artist exploring the threads between the past, future, the temporal and the timeless, creating portals into them from the present.
The artist creates ironic objects, sculptures and wearable objects inspired by her native Chuvash culture (a nationality in Russia) that become part of her artistic cosmos, captured in photos and videos, using handcrafted techniques at the junction of digital technology.
Abstract paintings by KonradWyrebek and Yelena Popova serve as a mirror of emotions and thoughts; they do not give exact answers, but only hint at the actual themes that the artists have woven into their works.
Konrad raises the question about how soon humanity is going to lose itself in the digital; how far we have already embarked on a journey that merges mind and body with machines. There is a certain irony in Wyrebek’s abstract paintings. We must step back to see a more transparent and bigger picture when the details are gone. As the viewers step back, the borders of the pixels become invisible: the pixelation process is reversed.
Drawings by Augusta Alexander and Martin Kovalenkoare more disturbing and provocative. They force the viewer to delve into the compositions, where a dialogue with the viewer is conducted through abstraction or a figure depicted. Martin’s artistic language was formed by analysing mythology, sexuality, sensuality, dreams, consciousness, and unconscious. His paintings are known for massive, dense, ostensibly narrative scenes in which narrative is stubbornly elusive. Events seem to take place in a parallel world. Portions of a canvas can be futuristic;while elsewhere there may be people depictedthat have come from the Napoleonic Wars or some primordial Europe.
The main goal of the exhibition, as AlexandrBlanar puts it, is to give a sensual experience to the viewer by tryingto keep the interest in learning about art as inevitable state of mind. “I Promise to Stay with You” provides a safe and welcoming space for this exploration, inviting you to delve into the depths or artistic interpretation and the meaning of life, free from external pressures.
