Abstraction requires a deeper immersion – intellectual and even spiritual – compared to figurative art forms. The absence of a specific image does not mean emptiness; there is a feeling built on the tension of the line and the play of colours. In the exhibition ‘Whisper of Lines, Noise of Colour’, the lines go beyond their role as contours and colour exceeds description: they become a language spoken by emotions, randomness and rhythms that have no need of translation. 

Works by contemporary artists, most of them representatives of the street wave: Alexey Luka, Ivan Ninety, Kirill Ashesteen and others, enter into dialogue with the legacy of classics of unofficial Soviet art such as Igor Vulokh, Nikolai Vechtomov and Leonid Borisov – those who, under strict conditions, sought a way out in pure gesture, in the heat of colour, in the ‘rustle’ of non-obvious structures. There is no subject matter in their works, there is a pulse; there is no image, but rather a trace of thought and movement. Abstraction has essentially become a symbol of freedom. Historically it has always reflected the social crises of its time, revealing the discord between reality and ideals, while expressing a passionate desire to regain lost integrity.

The curator of the project, Catherine Borissoff, compares abstraction with “reality stripped to the tendons of rhythm”. “Non-objective art has always been corporeal, and today’s authors continue this tradition. Their art breathes, scratches, vibrates. There is a desire to look closely, to listen to the whispering of their works. This is how this project originated, as well as the title of the exhibition. By juxtaposing the works of present-day authors with the legacy of unofficial art I was not following any ​​​​chronological principle, instead I tried to reveal the endless experimentation with gradations of tone, visual rhythms and a sequence of lines. This dialogue of artists is not about styles, but about what is most important: how to make the invisible visible, and the mute speak loud.”

The exhibition showcases works by twenty artists from the Ruarts Gallery and Foundation, executed in a variety of techniques: oil and acrylic painting, photography, collage and sculpture, which demonstrates the diversity of approaches and means of expression in contemporary abstract art.