Each painting in my collection has a story behind it and I cannot and would not pick out any single one: all of them are part of my life, a part of myself. With this site, I would like to open up to you a bit and to share with you things that interested and fascinated me for the last ten years, to make you aware of my exciting experience, my territory of joy and freedom.
An idea takes shape of a word or a number in the material world. Whatever your opinion is on numerology, there is no doubt the number 12 has left its mark in the world culture. Hercules became known for his Twelve Labours, Twelve Angry Men won the theatre stage, the characters of the Ilf and Petrov’s novel went after twelve chairs, the movies Twelve Monkeys by Terry Gilliam and Twelve Years a Slave by Steve McQueen have become history of world cinema. And we all know from childhood The Fairy Tale of Twelve Months by Samuil Marshak. Our life goes in cycles governed by the twelve marks of the clock dial and the twelve pages of the flip calendar...
The memory erases minor points. Every second the time accelerates its pace. When you happen to get rid of old things, you are sure to come across some forgotten pictures and a roll of negatives. Let us unroll the film and put it against a bright light. Important events and loved ones along with bits of memories will come back to life through the blackness of the picture. There is a deep hidden subtext behind these blurred photos, newspaper clippings, and odd trifles: our feelings, emotions, fears, and complexes. Memories of passions still linger together with some subconscious images. Do not you feel their warmth?
Twelve monochrome frames born on canvas cutoffs. Not enough space to hold a full brush-painted story but plenty of room for a diary note.
When an artist prepares a canvas for a future work, he is always left with some trims that usually go into trash. This time round, however, these cutoffs, edges, and rejects became the basic material for the Twelve series. What is the purpose? It is like something important contained in something small, things that are missed at first glance or overlooked for being too obvious. Likewise, subjects of the twelve paintings are landmarks and symbols in our lives that often get missed, unread, overlooked or misinterpreted for various reasons.
Close your eyes. Count slowly to twelve. Do you hear the second hand ticking in lockstep with your heartbeat? This is the way how sound the works of Alexander Kabin, an artist from Severodvinsk, an expert in numbers’ magic and monochrome colors.
