Oleg Khvostov is a famous Petersburg artist and member of the "New Dullards"(Novye Tupye) group. His career took off after his Absolute Painting exhibition held in Gridchinhall, which demonstrated what a Petersburg misfit is capable of under conditions of developed capitalism. Besides the "Kremlin" installation, which was somewhat of a media sensation, Khvostov showed portraits in which his focus was not at all on the portrayed individual – Putin, Nadya Tolokno, and Mona Lisa, after all, are in the end nothing more than a combination of certain geometric forms that looks like a self-portrait. For the most part, Khvostov always depicts himself using this painting genre as one method of existential seeking. However, his main method of investigation and structuring the world, escape from internal and external chaos, has been and remains landscapes. These are what we will present in the AL Gallery.

Oleg Khvostov paints landscapes sensually, landscapes which contain nothing that could interrupt the contemplation of nature. This is one of the most traditional forms of visual pornography. The ribald nature of the visual image and depiction in general was once contemplated by Marcel Duchamp while working on the "Given" panorama. But you needn't follow his example and depict a naked young woman with her legs spread apart in front of a waterfall to extend the arousal. Passion lives in a people-less Lustgarten, a garden of pleasures. The Sun King in a Versailles labyrinth, a lusty rabbit lost in the park at Het Loo near Amsterdam, or King Kong in Saint Petersburg's Catherinehof – no matter what the intoxicatingly sublimating focus is in our imaginations, we accept the invitation to go for a stroll through the garden of pleasure. Pleasure is guaranteed by the erect brush of the tour guide. The viewer will encounter images of mature Khvostov's porno-mannerisms. This is a rare opportunity to become partners with the artists, a voyeur, guessing at the topiary of the Marilyn Monroe's cleavage, the breasts of Tiresias, or the tobacconist's tits in Fellini's Amarcord.

Stanislav Savitskiy