Venice: Memoirs of the Future

This is the title of Anhelina Sidenko’s personal show displayed at Gallery 36 on Andriyivsky uzviz.

Without doubt the Kyiv artist is in love with Venice, although this love seems unrequited. The thing is that her Venetian memories and dreams are markedly subjective notions, so the presence of Crivelli, Carpaccio, Titian, Tintoretto, Goldoni, Gozzi, Vivaldi, Casanova, Venetian lace and windows, gondolas, and Corona chocolate is certainly not as inevitable as meets the eye. Hence, whether or not Anhelina Sidenko has actually been to Venice is not important. Unfortunately, her Venice does not exist.

The exposition consists of two graphic series with the author’s name perhaps the only connection. The first features old-fashioned, meticulously executed canvases portraying textbook tourist attractions, all those Adriatic gems. The second series, Mysteries: Venetian Carnival, does not seem to justify the title, for there are no mysteries, secrets, or puzzles at all. And the carnival is represented by a single painted gypsum mask carried from one composition to the next. Such masks are the cheapest traditional souvenirs. All things considered, Anhelina Sidenko has seen Venice (or sees it in her dreams) precisely like that.