Sidewalks of Paris

Description

Over several years Mihail Chemiakin photographed discarded paper, dead leaves, cigarette butts, spots of paint, cracks, traces of dog urine, plantain tree bark, and spots on the wall in nocturnal Paris, then drew with pastel and ink on matte prints of the photographs, creating a tremendous range of imagery. Thus arose a new technique in drawing and a new view of the astounding riches hidden in the humble, ignored world under our feet. This catalogue of the first exhibition of this work, at the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, includes 210 works on various themes --Theater, Petersburg, The Civil War, The Siege of Leningrad, Dances of Death, among others.