Six mops from Shaolin

From the beginning to the middle of the 2000s, a plastic and semantic transformation took place in the art of Yuri Nikiforov, who already received the nickname "Colonel" at that time. Even before that time, the artist was not afraid of expression, brutal materials, large format, or big themes. However, the "center of gravity" in the works of that period began to shift from solving plastic problems and searching for an expressive gesture to broadcasting social and existential discontent, anxiety and disagreement. Foam rubber, wires, hair, dirt, cigarette butts, rusty bolts, grease, drywall, bent fittings, and cotton wool not only complemented the artist's visual arsenal, but also diversified the set of textures and increased abstract expressiveness. They gave the works an unpleasant and dangerous tactility, insistently reminding of a difficult and painful existence taking place outside the attention of the artistic community.

Looking from today, one cannot help feeling that time has "caught up" with the Colonel's work. Now, in a completely different situation, a reminder of the chthonic, gloomy background of life, of privacy and comfort that can be turned inside out with one aggressive gesture, of injuries, incisions, fractures and the painful act of epiphany does not look offended by passive-aggressive grumbling, spilling excess psychic energy in an inappropriate place and obsessively blurting out their own internal and external professional problems. The anxieties and pain of today are recognized by touch in the works of Yuri Nikiforov, and the radical and forceful methods of "restoring the surface" and tightening the edges of the seam proposed by the artist look like a gesture of harsh mercy and give hope.

Text: Alexander Dashevsky