Collection

The paintings: "Beware: Rain, Snow, Fog, Frost" and "The Crimean Sonnets (Return of the Tatars)", were inspired by the artist’s journey to the Crimea in summer 2009. He travelled along the route which had been most probably once taken by Adam Mickiewicz, and which is now one of the longest trolleybus transport lines in Europe. The route connects Simferopol, the capital of the Crimea, Alushta and Yalta and crosses the Angarskyi Pass at 752 m above the sea level. The Pass once enabled migration of different groups of people. It was crossed by the Asians, Greeks, Tatars, Karaites, the Genoese or Russian residents. Currently, it also serves as an important strategic point for the police. The painting "The Crimean Sonnets (Return of the Tatars)" presents a steppe landscape with stone structures that intrigue the viewer. They resemble brick fragments of houses or homesteads without roofs, but are not fit for accommodation. The artist refers to a local story, according to which they are buildings of the Tatars, who were ordered by Stalin to leave the Crimea as a penalty for the alleged collaboration with the fascist Germany. When returning from exile, they would symbolically mark the lands that used to be their property once.