November 9, 2021
Right: Elena Seroff - Time. Composition #21, 2021. Courtesy of Artois Gallery.
When abstraction became the leading art movement in the 20th century, its proponents, including Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, and Pablo Picasso, made a comparison between art and science and stated that art could be abstract as science. However, they never left a blueprint saying how to abstract.
Several decades later, the Russian artist Sergey Dozhd, created Sciarsism, a new movement in contemporary art that addresses this problem and represents the science of artistic abstraction through which artists can understand and explain their work to other artists and viewers. To celebrate this achievement, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (MMOMA) staged this fall the exhibition Sciarsism and Sciarsists, including Artios Gallery's Elena Seroff.
Left: Elena Seroff - Contemplation, 2019. Courtesy of Artois Gallery / Right: Elena Seroff - Time. Composition #21, 2021. Courtesy of Artois Gallery.
What is Sciarsism?
Defined as a science of the internal artistic space, Sciarsism allows art to pass from a primary replication of nature and uncompleted mental assessments to the holistic and systemic development of art in mental space as a separate science. Created as a response to the poorly structured development of inner artistic forms in what is understood as the second phase of art development, Sciarsism aims to advance and better understand the inner artistic space.
In the inner space, the basic principles of realistic art, such as figure, rhythm, and symmetry, gain another meaning related to the composition of mental structures and the processes and purpose occurring in them. As such, it is not only a movement linked with art and culture, but it also aims to creatively develop human consciousness, society, spirituality, and morality.
The Head of the State Russian Museum's department of newest trends in art, Alexander Borovsky, described Sciarsism as a new chapter in art history and "a new wave of the Russian avant-garde and Russian philosophical school, which can have a great impact on the global cultural space."
Sciarsism and Sciarsists, installation view, MMOMA. Courtesy of Artois Gallery.
Elena Seroff's Abstract Way of Thinking.
The exhibition at MMOMA, brings the leading artists who apply the new scientific approach to the inner world and art from various countries, highlighting the universality of the new movement. They apply Sciarsic semiotics effectively, where different geometrical forms represent different elements - square stands for thought, circle for feeling, and triangle for intuition. Today, the movement brings together over 300 artists from Russia, France, Italy, China, Germany, the U.S., and other countries.
Among the exhibiting artists at MMOMA is Elena Seroff, a Russian-American artist based in New York City. Her work follows Sciarsism's postulates in bringing the inner world and feelings to the surface through a well-thought system. She captures the surrounding world with lines and colors, and is drawn towards simple and unpretentious forms. Her specific abstract way of thinking is presented with three works - Contemplation, Time. Composition #21, and Composition #1.
Elena Seroff - Composition, 2018. Courtesy of Artois Gallery
Sciarsism at MMOMA.
The exhibition Sciarsism and Sciarsists will be on view at MMOMA in Moscow until November 21st, 2021. Artios Gallery will organize a joint Sciarsism and Sciarsists exhibition in New York City in Fall 2022.
Sciarsism and Sciarsists, installation view, MMOMA. Courtesy of Artois Gallery.
Featured image: Sciarsism and Sciarsists, installation view, MMOMA. Courtesy of Artios Gallery.
The first piece of artwork struck me the most; it looks like somebody surfing at high speed, with the way the "hair" of the figure is horizontal, unable to keep up with the rest of the figure.