Until November 16th, 2022, Artborescence gallery gathers Russian artist Nikolaï Makarov’s ethereal works. These artworks are paintings that, deliberately blurred, remind all of the poetry of life, the suggestiveness of perception, including the evocative perception of painting.

Meeting with the Artborescence gallery, which is orchestrating the exhibition of Nikolai Makarov.

Artborescence is a poetic name that reminds of artistic ramifications. Could you please revisit the significance around it?

An arborescence is a phenomenon of ramification. The result testifies to an order put in place by a mysterious force. All these phenomena radiate harmoniously from a meeting point, obeying silent and positive laws. Here is for us, the Art remains well on a mystery, but a reassuring mystery, which is beneficial and enriching with a capital H.

Could you shortly talk about the gallery’s background?

Artborescence is the story of two passionate friends, experts, and merchants of ancient Art who believe that contemporary Art must be able to fit into history without seeking at all costs ruptures and coups d’éclat. Contemporary Art must listen carefully and humbly to the works of the past while knowing how to anchor itself with relevance in its time. This vision is nourished by a constant dialogue between the centuries, yesterday’s and today’s artworks, coming together to celebrate beauty.

Which approach to Art and painting can we find inside your gallery?

Artborescence is a singular vision of creation, like a constant dialogue with different periods of time. It is a gallery whose aim is to celebrate the wonders of nature from what it inspires in today’s artists, aware of the immense fragility of the environment at a time of great ecological challenges. Artborescence is not interested in intimidating art, but rather highlights the original gesture of an artist inspired by what surrounds him. Rather than intellectualized art, Artborescence believes that art can speak to the public without the filter of convoluted explanations. Artborescence, finally, is a gallery that wants to be a warm meeting place, between artists, collectors, experts, and dealers, gathered around works that say, each in their own way, the world that surrounds us.

How did you meet Nikolaï Makarov’s artworks? How has this exhibition been orchestrated?

It all started in December 2018 in Paris, at 76 rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré. At the time, Sotheby’s was hosting the Salon for Young Merchants, and it was our first encounter with Nikolaï Makarov’s artwork. The painting was exhibited by Mario Bermel, a young gallerist from Berlin who soon became a friend. That man has been a close friend of Makarov’s since their early years. As a child, he used to crush colors from the painter’s workshop. We owe him the fact that we were able to mount such an exhibition on a world-renowned artist.

With the current war context in Ukraine, do you think that Art (and especially painting) can intervene in the reconciliation of peoples?

Art is timeless and universal. Therefore, it is obvious that Art is a pleasant place where people come together; in the same way that the Artborescence gallery is, on its own scale, a place of sharing for artists and art lovers. Can you name a war made for Art? We don’t know of any. On the contrary, we all agree that Art brings people together. Just look at the cosmopolitan and international attendance of museums around the world. Art is one of the best examples of world concord, and God knows that we can lack it at the moment! harmonious

In Nikolai Makarov’s works, reality merges with dreams. Do you think it is the role of Art to build bridges between the conscious and the subconscious?

Of course! For us, there are two disciplines that are capable of making such a link between the conscious and the subconscious. First hand, I think of religion, which is not the subject of our discussion. And then there is Art. It touches the mystical while being men’s work. There is no Art without human contribution. The artist, as a creator touches the field of the conscious but he is able to provoke feelings and emotions in the other which touch de facto the subconscious. If Nikolai Makarov’s art is so captivating, it is because it is a bridge between the conscious and the subconscious.

What do you think makes Nikolai Makarov’s painting so special? What would you like visitors and collectors to remember about this exhibition?

Evanescence of the work, of the image created by Nikolai Makarov Obvious references to ancient art Contemporary because anchored stylistically in his time Timelessness of his artistic approach Nikolai Makarov, expresses through his works a whole range of reflection related to his game of shadows and lights. These poetic images are pushed to the limits of simplicity, leaving only forms, sometimes only silhouettes whose contours and colors will find a reference in our imaginations. The artistic singularity of this painter has made his reputation for nearly forty years throughout the world. It is obviously based on countless aspects of ancient art, combining the light of Rembrandt and the sfumato of the Italians of the sixteenth century, through subjects that Monet and Degas have magnified in their time. It is this bridge that visitors to our exhibition must remember. This bridge between the art of yesterday and today that Makarov depicts with the finesse of a great master.

At Icon-Icon we like to share with our readers an iconic moment that acted as an epiphany for our interviewees… Do you have in mind a painting, a museum, or a gallery visit that acted as such for you?

Benoit: Antonio Ciseri – Ecce Homo – 1862 – Palazzo Pitti – Florence: a little-known painting by an Italian-Swiss artist which is a very successful syncretism of Western art at its peak.

Florent: The great room of the French 17th century at the Louvre Museum, where many works by Philippe de Champaigne are kept. A journey through time in the midst of extraordinary images, with a shocking realism that cannot leave you unmoved.