Art often aspires to reflect the scale and grandeur of nature. But Gregory Orekhov’s “Black Square”, a large-scale sculptural installation literally turns the world inside out into an infinity of possibilities and realities – a passageway mirroring the landscape of Moscow’s Malevich Park in multitude.
Located in an open space dedicated to Russian avant-garde artist Kazimir Malevich, Orekhov’s “Black Square” compels visitors to find passage through a path guarded by a pair of ominous black monoliths. As visitors continue to travel between each sculpture, their initial blankness gives way to “an endless corridor of reflections” created by two full-length mirrors made from highly polished stainless steel along the interior length of each monument. The effect is a disorientating reminder of nature’s presence that perseveres, a multidimensional “space” outdoors.
Orekhov utilizes the sculpture’s enormous volume to intentionally preserve its “unnaturalness” against the backdrop of the park, seamlessly integrating each structure within the built environment of the park, all the while connecting the viewer to the architectural capacity of the landscape in duplicate.
The spatial impact of the “Black Square” lies within the structure: a planned sensorial migration from the two-dimensional into a bewildering picture-with-picture reflection of the landscape reproduced ad nauseam.
The viewer turns into an accomplice, falling into an endless corridor of reflections. The dynamics of the viewer’s movement become intriguing inside the static figure…he [Orekhov] combines a crude form with a theatre of emotions that ultimately draw one in.
– Mikhail Sidlin, Curator and Art Critic
Gregory Orekhov’s work can be found in the collections of the Russian museum and MAMM, as well as in private collections in the Netherlands, USA, Italy and Jordan. In 2017 Gregory presented his work at the Saatchi Gallery in London.
Gregory Han is Tech Editor of Design Milk. A Los Angeles native with a profound love and curiosity for design, hiking, tide pools, and road trips, a selection of his adventures and musings can be found at gregoryhan.com.
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