Alexander Vorobyev

The Surrealism and Abstractionism of Dreams
By Alexander Vorobyev

My voice of originality speaks about dreams, struggle and conflict, politics and ideology, nature and the absurd.

I experiment with dreamscapes and ideas and my watercolours display a calculated compositional approach, yet seem to flow with automatism - a complex mix of texture and forms displaying my unique symbology. The viewers journey around my works, always finding new meanings the deeper they look.

I am inspired by Arthur Rimbaud's comment: 'the chaotic nature of thought is sacred'. It is through this pilgrimage with my stream of consciousness that I break through to the other side of perception, and new meanings are delivered through my works.
I am fascinated by the concept of the cross: it is my childhood again - with crosses of window frames of old houses, masts of ships, it is a handle of a sword, mediaeval Europe, crusaders, a razor blade; it is a battle, a struggle of the vertical and horizontal lines, of the spiritual and the material worlds. There is something magical at the moment of a collision of the vertical with the horizontal, when you are neither awake nor in deep slumber. There is a distinct spark emerging during that interwoven...

Studied and graduated from an art school in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Lives and works in London since 1994. Member of Royal Watercolour Society. Pictures in V&A Museum, in The Royal Collection, and in private collections.

Bankside Gallery 1 December 2020