Syntax Gallery presents a new project by Petr Bystrov. The artist works in his developed technique of “staple-gravure” on wood. In his works, he uses staples, wire, screwnuts, fragments of fabrics, and mechanical parts, transforming them into whimsical portraits, mythological scenes, and images of banknotes. For this new exhibition, the artist has created a series of monumental book covers and wooden backbones that explore the boundaries between text, body, and image.

“I grew up among books.
At one point, more than I did among people.
The fantasies that accompanied the inevitable development of my personality freely intertwined with the plots of stories, novellas, and novels that I absorbed not randomly, but in an overwhelming quantity. The so-called impulses of the soul, and the accompanying physiology of a maturing organism, formed fertile ground for absorbing the love entanglements of the heroes in the sacred tales of Afanasyev, the legends and myths of Ancient Greece, the gruesome naturalistic dramas of early Andreev, and the hopeless mixture of eros and thanatos in the late revelations of Bunin.

One day, and for good, I lost myself in the corridors of the literary labyrinth. Was I lost?
What is my salvation? To become the hero of my own novel—that, perhaps, is a seamless and self-consistent approach. Bibliophilia fostered the development of erotomania in me, and when I was unable to handle it alone, I turned once again to books for answers. Thus, a closed circle was formed, and an unread book firmly became identified with an unknown woman. They are countless.

Today, on the eve of my forty-fifth birthday, I still don’t think that there are any discrepancies between literature and life.

For the exhibition “From Bibliophilia to Erotomania, and Back”, I have selected books whose central questions still intrigue me. Why did the lion die, but a little dog had to perish? What exactly did Denis experience when he saw something that became the central event of his life—the girl on the ball? Why do the gods and heroes of ancient tales eternally chase after the unclad muses and nymphs, as well as the full-breasted daughters of shepherds, unable to stop? This current exhibition encapsulates my new attempt to unravel the mystery of the attraction to life and books.”

Peter Bystrov