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Art

Art Sokoloff: Rediscovering the Structure of Reality

turquoise ether magazine06/04/23 20:45539

Author: Jenya Stashkov, artist and art critic

Collapse of planes hybrid mode, 2020, Acrylic on canvas, 20×20cm
Collapse of planes hybrid mode, 2020, Acrylic on canvas, 20×20cm

Modern art practises force artists to invent social masks for personal use. From the history of art, we know artists as prophets, artists as politicians, artists as hermits, artists as peacemakers, suffering artists, and so on. Social positioning and the conscious declaration of their “EGO” as a character are important parts of the artist’s existence in society. The most important problem for the artist here is the need to maintain a balance between the production of artwork and their own production. It seems to me that the most interesting contemporary artists are those who are aware of their “role” and consciously use it as a tool for developing their artistic voice.

Intuitive surface pattern, 2022, Acrylic and texture paste on
Intuitive surface pattern, 2022, Acrylic and texture paste on

Art Sokoloff is a unique example of a visionary artist masterfully balancing sophisticated technicality with paradoxical conceptuality. He expands the scope of geometric abstract art, which has already become to some extent a conservative art direction, and places it in a variety of contexts. The set of the main artistic tools of Art Sokoloff can be described in the following words: patterns, muted colours, correlation with the objects of reality of an alienated city, metaphorical dimension, minimalism, observance and violation of rhythm.

“Sequence Mapping”, 2021, Acrylic on canvas and paper, 60×45cm each
“Sequence Mapping”, 2021, Acrylic on canvas and paper, 60×45cm each

The works of Art Sokoloff seem to have been removed from a giant universal ornament. On the one hand, they seem concise, but on the other hand, it is obvious that they are cramped in the frame of a small work. This makes Sokoloff’s work related to religious painting. However, this relationship is not related to the plots of religious books. This is a metaphysical, non-clerical kinship that translates metaphysical sensations: infinity, the predetermination of causes and effects, the super-complexity of the world order. Sometimes Art Sokoloff includes plot elements in his works. But these elements work to enrich the abstract content. These elements work as shortcuts, as bookmarks, and as links to a non-existent directory. In this catalogue, the aesthetics of retrofuturism, urban navigation, and astrological studies are intricately intertwined. The works of Art Sokoloff are multifunctional objects; they can exist as interventions in the urban environment, as gallery exhibits, or as objects for meditation. It is amazing how subtly Art Sokoloff combines in his art the obvious constructivist principle with the hidden visionary.

“Untitled, 31”, 2022, Acrylic on canvas, 50×70cm
“Untitled, 31”, 2022, Acrylic on canvas, 50×70cm

The visual language of the artist is emphatically ascetic but at the same time total. Sokoloff tends to create a series of repetitive patterns and periodically introduce elegant failures into this constancy. These failures do not disrupt the subtle harmony of the compositions but activate unexpected synesthetic states in the viewer (seizures!). At the level of feelings and perception, Sokoloff“s works can also be called works of visual poetry and scores of modern academic avant-garde music. The central object of Sokoloff”s aesthetics is an elusive structure. This structure is difficult to identify. This structure seems to elude direct identification. The structure of the world? The structure of consciousness? What is the structure of non-reality? It is the understatement that makes us relate these structures to our bodies, our multiverse, and our fantasies.

Also, the works of Art Sokoloff undoubtedly perform an important social function. This function promotes calmness and detachment. The artist discovers and reveals to the world the hidden structures of reality with the utopian purpose of proclaiming the message of hidden logic, hidden ideas, and hidden purposes in the chaos of everyday life.

I sincerely recommend that you familiarise yourself with the art practise of Art Sokoloff. You will have an incredible, not boring, encounter with the infinitely inventive aesthetics of this talented artist.

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