I get light-headed gazing at these paintings by Dimitri Kozyrev. The moving three-dimensional aerial perspectives and vibrant colors make my head spin. But the work of Russian artist Dimitri Kozyrev is far more than dizzying re-arrangements of the pictorial space. Kozyrev’s work is a commentary on the state of the contemporary art world as well as a remembrance of World War II. The source material for the artist’s work is images of ruins of the fortifications of the Mannerhiem Line, built to protect Finland from the advances of the Soviet military avant-garde.
The Tucson, Arizona based artist says, “The war with Finland took place on the soil outside of my city before World War II, and when I discovered ruins of the fortifications from that war being reclaimed by nature, I was struck by how quickly these things are forgotten. Incidentally, the war with Finland is called “the Forgotten War” in Russia. And in the world of art too —“Contemporary Art” has been a strong influence for only a couple of decades. What the Cubists and the Constructivists were fighting, striving for…it’s all very different what we seem to be struggling with now.”
The images in this post are from Kozyrev’s “Lost One” series. See more of the artist’s paintings on his website.
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