NIKOLAI KABANIAEV
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
I was born in Russia, in 1963, in a provincial town called Saratov. My father died one month before my birth and my mother struggled to raise her three boys. We lived in a tiny dormitory room of a local theater where my mother worked as a make up and wig artist. Our dormitory was filled with actors, opera singers, ballet dancers and musicians who constantly practiced their arias and ballet steps in the shared kitchen and bathroom and in a long dark corridor. My early childhood passed back stage at the theater, where all my wacky roommates were transformed, with the help of my mother, into exotic creatures, heroes, swans and witches.
More than anything else in the entire world I loved to dream. My dreams were provoked by the magic of the performances, the bright stage lights, the smell of make up and powder, fantastic costumes and scenery. When the show was over on the stage it continued in my head. I wanted to capture somehow that magical world which took me away. I did not want to belong to reality, I wanted to be in my dream... then I started to paint, then I started to dance.
Being a dancer most of my life has opened for me a unique insight into human angst, a constant striving for perfection, and an eternal quest for self-expression. The human body, the finest product of nature, is used by a dancer as a tool to break out from the "prison" of ordinary. One single step from the theater wing onto the stage represents the transformation from reality into a dream. Art for me is when reality becomes a dream and dream becomes a reality.
What is PHOTO-PAINTING?
Photo-Painting is a new technic that I developed using digital photography and Photoshop. I’m taking thousands of pictures and creating hundreds of layers to produce a painting like image. I use digital data as a medium, as a “paint” if you wish, for my artwork.
Besides employing the modern tools of painting, I developed a new way to make the process of experiencing my artwork more dramatic and striking. For the maximum effect and size that can cover very large walls the high-resolution image is divided into tiles. Each individual mini-image is giclee printed on archival paper and mounted onto MDFB (medium density fiber board) plate that is covered with an acid free dry mount tissue to ensure the durability and long life of the artwork. On the top it is covered with an acid free non-glare vinyl laminate that is 99% UV protective. The plates are mounted on the wall into a large tableau, creating a high-resolution "digital fresco".
Single panel sizes range from 24" by 36" to 96" by 64". Amount of panels and dimensions on the wall may be selected and customized at client's discretion.
