Rings

Andrey Olenev is an artist whose practice is rooted in painting but extends beyond its traditional framework to encompass public art, installation, and multipart wooden objects that completely or partially conceal the image. His works are always a dialogue with the material, be it the surface of an urban wall, a piece of board, oil paints or paper. Wood, the basis of his paintings, is also a key element in the creation of his artist’s books, where every detail‑from the texture of the veneer to the metal fixings‑is part of the artistic message.

The form of the book Rings was inspired by antique scrolls. The arched beech veneer cover is a metaphor for a tree trunk and the rolled pages imitate its rings. Inside there is a series of watercolor illustrations recording everyday city life. Olenev first started making artist’s books in 2012 and even in his first publications he used a crossed out, illegible text which in Rings takes on a new, more refined form. The text accompanying each illustration does not simply disappear beneath the lines but seems to crumble, breaking into pieces, echoing the illustrations with their ruined wooden architecture and shambolic urban environment. This technique is a visual metaphor for a slippery reality in which words lose their strength but images remain, forcing the viewer to observe things which go unnoticed but are no less important for that.