From "In collaboration with Katya Kvasova" series

Ivan Gorshkov is one of the most prominent representatives of the so-called Voronezh wave of artists. His art is multifaceted — painting, graphics, sculpture, art objects, which can all be combined at the author’s discretion into total installations, prevailing in one project or another depending on the artistic task. Embodying a variety of creative ideas, Gorshkov adheres to a style that he himself calls “semi-abstract expressionism”. His sonorous and spectacular images balance on a fine line between figurative and non-objective art, becoming heroes of new “incredible realities” created by the author. “The most captivating dream is to make a breakthrough into the inexplicable, to reduce the content of the text inside the picture to zero, to create a force that defies analysis. To create tension, the source of which is impossible to recognize,” — Ivan Gorshkov admits. As a result, each of his projects is a new world that he creates, using the material as a kind of organic matter, taking the most bizarre forms. 

Most of his works are characterized by bright colorfulness - color saturation, turning rough "statues" of welded metal into outlandish creatures. Gorshkov's works always show a non-trivial approach to the choice of "participants" of his compositions, complementing the man-made images he created, among them soft and plastic toys, elements of organic nature, such as stumps, moss, stones, found objects, photographs - famous photo-toads, turned into brushstrokes-accents on the surface of paintings. Their use becomes for the artist an attempt to put marginal culture at the service of serious art. Gorshkov's main method of work is the constant reworking of his own works, without fear of making a mistake: for example, a painting or drawing can be improved at any time by adding a sticker from a pre-prepared set to the image. He likens his creative process to a natural process and includes in it a special “generator of lucky coincidences” that helps to perfectly fit unexpected objects or images into the context of the intended artistic project.