Warrior Hare

In his practice Alexander Povzner combines a love for traditional sculpture and conceptual art. His research projects often involve diametrically opposite media, materials, and techniques which are so different that they cannot always be identified as his work. He upends the canon with ease and switches between artistic styles, avoiding the use of a single language. This might involve surrealistic readymades, works in marble or bronze, abstract compositions or absurdist scenes made of painted plaster. Povzner does not limit his search in any way. Nevertheless, one of the characteristic features of his works is alogism, impossibility, the collision of the incompatible, the connecting of the unconnectable. His world is populated by werewolves, centaurs, chimeras, monster birds, goat women, two‑headed dogs, antique figures in flowerpots, people‑functions, and object‑paradoxes.

The sculpture Hare‑Warrior is from the series Animal‑Warriors. The huge, grotesque, mutant hare is made of plaster painted bright orange. In its paws it holds a Kalashnikov assault rifle and its uniform bears an emblem with a carrot planted in the ground. “Hares appeared in primary school during boring lessons,” Povzner recalls. “On the back pages of notebooks, in the margins of test papers and dictations. They inhabited my imaginary country. They spoke and wrote in a made‑up language. I drew political and geographical maps, flags, wise men and warriors, flora and fauna, and other details of the imaginary world. Everything was thought up, drawn, and named. Often the drawings were accompanied by small texts. This went on all through school and university. Every so often I return to them.”