CC BY
24
Section 1. Visual arts
https://doi.org/10.29013/EJA-20-3-3-6
Tikhonova Ksenia Andreevna, postgraduate student, Department of History and Theory of Arts
Belarusian State Academy of Arts E-mail: ksjushiks@mail.ru
CONCEPTUAL DIRECTION IN THE FELT ART OF BELARUS
Abstract. The article is devoted to the specifics of artistic images in the creation of contemporary Belarusian artists of conceptual felt. Examples of author's works made ofwool are consider: stylistic features, a variety of expressive means and the content of an artistic image.
Keywords: Art felt, feltmakers, creative wool, decorative art, conceptual art.
At the heart of any work of art is an artistic image. The Belarusian artistic felting is characterized by a variety of forms and figurative solutions. In general, the creative works of Belarusian artists made in various techniques of felting are decorative, but in the modern felt space, there are projects of a different nature.
So, since 2004, in the textile art of Belarus, among the artists and fashion designers of clothes, the stylistic solution of felt works in the conceptual direction has become relevant. The concept that expresses the artist's perception of any object, phenomenon or process can be incorporated in any form oftextile art: flat and volumetric expression, in the form of a collection of clothes. In conceptual felt, the meaning of the work often manifests itself in abstract composition, modeling and stylization of the form. Such creativity goes beyond the usual tasks of decoration, it becomes a sphere of complex philosophy and aesthetics. Each element of the visual image has its own understanding. The creation of non-traditional forms, art objects is characteristic of the work of Nadezhda Azhder, Veronica Rassylnaya, Lyudmila Domnenkova, Olga Kratkovskaya, Alexandra Gyros and others.
In the creative practice of Belarusian clothing designers at the beginning of the XXI century the main tasks in the design of conceptual collections were determined, consisting in the ability to simulate a technical form that would be easily transformed into an aesthetic one. In connection with the emergence of new technologies and the formation of a different ideological environment, traditional ideas about the principles and methods of clothing modeling have changed. To design such a costume, artists create a given form, structure, function and object-sensory sensation [1, 14]. Own unique images offer her own unique looks in the collection of costumes "The Soul of Armor", Anastasia Sabina and Antonina Yasnits-kaya in the collection of clothing "Northern Heat", Anastasia Rogovskaya.
A significant place in the field of conceptual felt art was taken by a Belarusian artist from Minsk, Elena Kolyasnikova-Ilkovets. She became interested in the art of felt in 2007, upon arrival in Minsk of the exhibition and conducting master classes of the Swedish felt artist Gunila Petau Shoberg. Using the experience and knowledge gained in the Belarusian-
Swedish project, E. Kolyasnikova-Ilkovets organized personal exhibitions of works and seminars on felt. The artist's creative works are in private collections in different countries: China, USA, Russia, Germany, and Belarus.
The landmark work in the field of Belarusian felt art, the graduation project of E. Kolyasnikova-Ilkovets, and the collection of costumes "Soul of Armor" deserve due attention. Felt suits, symbolizing armor for the soul, are made of white wool of fine-wooled Stavropol sheep. In the collection, the white color is not accidental - it depicts pure spirituality, the integral energy of the universe. Improvised gray weapons complement the costumes, where the meaning of gray is emptiness, emptiness, obscurity and accident. Thus, the author emphasizes that the weapon, even if used for protection, carries destruction and death. Medieval knightly armor ofWestern Europe: Spain, England, Germany, France, Italy was taken as the basis for the shape and silhouette of the felt costumes.
The component parts of each costume were felt plates, piled up by wet felting, and represented seamless canvases that were assembled using rivets, buttons and eyelets and had not just a decorative purpose, but were also the main fastening, as in metal armor. The thematic basis of the project was not only the architectonics of knightly armor, but also the then European fashion, which made its own changes and adjustments to the silhouette and shape of the medieval costume. Then the armor had its own characteristics, depending on what it was created for, namely for tournaments, battles, foot fights or parades. It was important for the artist to recreate the images of bright fantastic heroes, as well as to convey their characters, traits of masculinity and expressiveness. Many elements of costumes, I mean their shape and silhouette, are copied from natural knightly armor of the Middle Ages, but generalized and adapted to the capabilities of felt.
According to E. Kolyasnikova-Ilkovets, "the main thing in the concept of the formation of forms
and silhouettes of costumes is not their documentary, read by a different, even opposite material: metal and wool, but artistry with a historical nuance". The knightly costumes of the artist are unique. They are built on a combination of materials, one of which is the basic, unpainted felt, symbolizing a pure light image, and metal, which gives decor to the artwork, and the effect of natural armor. With her unconventional approach to the use of artistic wool in art, E. Kolyas-nikova-Ilkovets proves the unlimited possibilities of forming and artistic aesthetics of felt.
In 2011, E. Kolyasnikova-Ilkovets created another conceptual project "Map of Europe", which consists of three felt canvases made by the method of wet felting and ornamented using the patterned seam technique. The idea of creating this work arose under the influence of Gorno-Altai embroidery, when masters embroidered with white thread on a white background. For a light background, E. Kolyasnikova-Ilkovets chose unpainted felt and, using sewing embroidery and author's techniques, made a composition, a drawing of the canvas. The thematic basis of the felt canvases was the same knightly culture of the Middle Ages and the style of Celtic ornamentation. The compositional structure of the map depicting Europe contains the image of an Italian who is visually near Italy, a German who looks at Germany, an Englishman on the islands of Great Britain, a Spaniard near Spain and a Frenchman next to France, and Latin inscriptions are present. As in the collection of knightly costumes, the theme of the spiritual principle is reinforced in the card. The upper corners of the canvases are decorated with images of angels, which is a symbol of the heavenly, spiritual, divine, and the lower edges are decorated with images of serpents, identifying the last judgment, life after death. On the "Map of Europe" in the central parts, upper and lower side parts of the triptych, there are images of the Evangelists. Evangelists in the composition are not an accidental element, they were often used in the decoration of knights, depicted on the shields
of knightly armor. Celtic ornamentation is at the heart of the stylization of the evangelists and other images of a work of art. The author's felt "Map of Europe" can be displayed as a clean background or in a backdrop with a characteristic light theatrical effect that creates a space and gives a certain mood to the overall exposition.
The unique possibilities of felt are used in their works, devoted to this material, by Belarusian artists Lyudmila Domnenkova and Natalya Azhder. With their numerous creative projects, both artists try to express and fix their reasoning about the intrinsic value of every moment of human life through this unusual material.
The artists assure that "their works do not have a vivid depiction, so that the person is not led along the path that we have paved. Everyone should have their own thought, their own idea and their own sense of the world" [3]. For example, the project "Day by Day" consisted of long, dark gray and white felt canvases, made by the method of wet and dry felting using the shibori technique, and a volumetric sculpture made of wool plates sewn together. The conceptual basis of the image of this project is the ambiguous life path of a person with its pure and dark side. For L. Domnenkova and N. Azhder, it was important to convey the idea of the project through the form that artistic felting can take, the extraordinary texture of felt, the plasticity of the textile material.
A young artist Veronika Rassilnaya works in the conceptual direction of felt art. In 2010, she created a work using the nano-felting method, combining silk and wool in natural shades, as well as felt decor with slips of different sizes. Her creative work "DzmukhAvechka" is made in the form of a relief decorative panel of irregular shape and contains two symbols: a plant and an animal. To solve the symbolic image of the plant, the artist chose a dandelion and, using fabric and felt, conveyed its characteristic features: it is fluffy, light, transparent, consisting of small parachutes. To emphasize the material of the work, V. Rassilnaya was looking for its similarity
with natural motives and settled on the image of a sheep, a beautiful and meek animal. According to the artist, she wanted to create not just a stylization of a plant, but to convey the specificity of felt, which she associates with something meek, therefore the concept of the work is an animated, transparent character of a whole image, emphasized by the contrast of textures of dense felt and light silk.
An excellent example of the use of felt in clothing is the designer collection presented at the show at the National School of Beauty by the Belarusian fashion designer Anastasia Ragovskaya. Elegant, original, eco-friendly designer felt clothing included outfits and exquisite accessories. A. Ragovskaya became one of the few Belarusian designers who managed to "tame" this noble material and create a natural, fashionable collection of clothes. According to A. Rogovskaya: "felt is comfortable, convenient, warm, you want to wrap yourself in it. In my works I used the wool of a merino sheep, of high quality and soft, and there can be no associations with felt boots, because this is a completely different material ". Some things were made in a natural, natural color, from absolutely undyed wool, an English breed of sheep called blues.
In A. Rogovskaya's collection she boldly combined wool with other natural materials: viscose, silk and leather. The designer tried to emphasize the exclusivity of the eco-outfits not only with natural colors, but also with the help of decoration with symbolic decorative elements [2]. In her works, the designer used small appliqués, embroidery, fleece -these are sheared sheep's curls, and prefelt appliqués - lightly knitted felt.
A certain concept, reflecting the individual view of the artist, is incorporated in the collection of clothes "Northern Heat" by Anastasia Sabina and Antonina Yasnitskaya. Designer dresses are made using hand-rolled technique and complemented with accessories decorated with processed plastic and leather. The concept of the collection of clothes by A. Sabina and A. Yasnitskaya is based on the synthesis of the
peculiarities of the culture of Norway and Africa. The figurative content of African culture is embedded in the embellishments and décor of geometric shapes and prints, while Norwegian traditions are brought to light by the silhouette, which lends austerity to the dresses despite the length and materials.
Based on the foregoing, it can be argued that artistic felting is popular in the work of Belarusian masters: in creating small and large-scale conceptual volumetric-spatial compositions, in modeling clothes, in interior decoration and in organizing exhibition projects.
References:
1. Pleshkova I. S. Conceptual direction in fashion design of the XX - early XXI centuries: author. dis ... candidate of art history: 17. 00. 06 / I. S. Pleshkova.- St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg. state un-t technology and design, 2010.- 14 p.
2. Makeeva A. Designer clothes made of felt in Minsk: beautiful, original, environmentally friendly / A. Makeeva, L. Orlova [Electronic resource].- Access mode: URL: http:/www.ctv.by/node/464373.- Date of access: 04/19/2020.
3. Exhibition "Day by Day" in Minsk: the possibilities of felt through the eyes of an artist / [Electronic resource].- Access mode: URL: http://www.ctv.by/node/464382/ - Date of access: 09/19/2020.
