MITThe Dean's Gallery

. . .
 
Dmitry Samarov:
Jinx

June 24, 1999 - August 27, 1999

Curated by Michelle Fiorenza

The idea behind painting at a coffee shop is to be around people while you work. You think that if they are around that maybe there is some connection between you and them. Unfortunately, in order to do the work, you must block everything out. So, although there are people coming and going all around you, there is a wall separating the two. Of course one can say that since a lot of the others are there to do their own work also, there is a connection in purpose. But if your job is to look at them, it places you at a remove because it is neither your own business nor a way to participate in theirs. One way to think about it is to concentrate on things peripheral to their presence. To look at the way the light constantly changes as the day goes on, to decide whether to describe in more or less detail. In the end though, it is you and them, and that goes on, to decide whether to describe in more or less detail. In the end though, it is you and them, and that unbridgeable gap. You can invent stories or speculate about the relationships between the, or think that they are on a stage performing for your benefit. There is no sense in trying to give one self a place in their drama because to do so would violate the terms of the relationship.

As you sit there and get progressively more and more jumpy from all the caffeine, you wonder if this is any different from staying at home. There must be difference because otherwise there would be no impulse to try it. Maybe there is something that ties you to themn. It might be only imaginarey but that possibility is what keeps one going. The only real connection is if someone who was there sees the work displayed somewhere and recognizes the place and the time depicted. It may trigger a memory or a thought. That binds them with the work, but not with you, yet that is probably as close as you can hope to get. So one is stuck with the conclusion that to do the work is to set oneself apart.

Dmitry Samarov, "Jinx #15"
Sumi Ink, 9"h. X 13"w.,1999
Copyright © 1999 Dmitry Samarov
All Rights Reserved

Dmitry Samarov, "Jinx #11"
Sumi Ink, 9"h. X 13"w.,1999
Copyright © 1999 Dmitry Samarov
All Rights Reserved

Dmitry Samarov, "Jinx #18"
Sumi Ink, 9"h. X 13"w.,1999
Copyright © 1999 Dmitry Samarov
All Rights Reserved

Dmitry Samarov, "Jinx #6"
Gouache on Paper, 9"h. X 13"w.,1999
Copyright © 1999 Dmitry Samarov
All Rights Reserved

Dmitry Samarov, "Jinx #7"
Gouache on Paper, 9"h. X 13"w.,1999
Copyright © 1999 Dmitry Samarov
All Rights Reserved

Dmitry Samarov, "Jinx #3"
Gouache on Paper, 9"h. X 13"w.,1999
Copyright © 1999 Dmitry Samarov
All Rights Reserved

Go to the Dean's Gallery home page