Firebird: Beyond the Fence
Dmitri Kaminker
October 17, 1990 – April 14, 1991
Dmitri Kaminker, Firebird: Beyond the Fence, 1990; wood, metal, paper, paint, nails
St. Petersburg artist Dmitri Kaminker evokes the aspirations and fears of contemporary Russians living in villages in the countryside, far from urban activity. His work alludes to the realities of that life - with its harshness and its oppression - and to its legends.
Firebird: Beyond the Fence consists of eight life-sized or larger figures constructed and carved from old lumber. They are loosely contained within an architectural framework which evokes a domestic environment. The work incorporates found elements (metal clasps and hinges, numbers, signs, wallpaper and newspapers) which were brought from Russia. The central theme of the installation is embodied in the image Firebird on Pedestal, personifying the traditional Russian folk tale wherein happiness is attainable if only one could hold the tail feathers of the firebird. Here the bird rises majestically above a common latrine: imagination rooted in reality.
We encounter Old Hero atop his wine box throne: fighter for Stalin, keeper of the old world filled with hatred of the new because he has lost a limb; he is the old hero, the King of the Suburb. We also encounter Blind Man balanced precariously on rockers and moving between earth and sky; yearning to touch the earth with his stick and to reach the sky with his eyes, he is incapable of both. And in Underdog, one finds the ever-present government on the back of the cowering man, aggressively portraying the oppressive relationship of power to people.
Lying just outside this backyard fenced enclosure is Mirage, an abundant still life in vibrant technicolour, perched precariously on a formidably sloped dining table (whose empty surface recalls the Russian prairies), indicating by its physical removal from the other images the separation of desire from reality, of Russian fantasy from Russian fact.
Text by Rina Greer
Additional funding for this exhibition was provided by the Canada Council through the Visiting Foreign Artists Programme, the Ontario Ministry of Culture and Communications through the Arts Abroad Programme, and the donation of all salvaged wood construction materials from Teperman.
