Hermitage
2022
XL Gallery

The “Hermitage” exhibition by artist and sculptor Alexander Povzner. The exposition represents a model of the artist’s studio where his ideas find (or are just about to find) physical embodiment.

The word “hermitage” can be translated as “a secluded place,” a refuge from the bustle. For many artists, it is the studio that becomes the space where they can get alone with themselves and their ideas, to discard the unnecessary and to realize what deserves to be realized. Shelves lined with images of future sculptures, made in gouache on huge kraft sheets, are the main motif of the exhibition and the best illustration of continuous creative search.

Some of Povzner’s drawings—sometimes amusing, sometimes disturbing, but invariably witty—”come off” the paper and find their follow-up in the form of sculpture. Others will remain on imaginary shelves in an imaginary workshop. A number of “sketches” are associated with well-known stories—for example, the viewer will easily recognize figures of Saint Sebastian or Medusa Gorgon,—but most will leave him/her puzzled and wondering. Thus, for the viewer, the exhibition can also become a kind of “refuge”—a place where, at least for a while, he/she can think of nothing else but the artist’s work.

Photo: XL Gallery