Oleg Prokofiev Coloured works from the 1990’s
Oleg Prokofiev The sketchbooks from 1997/1998 are filled with lively people scratching or stretching, smoking and reading, yawning and dreaming. The fluid lines of Prokofiev’s previous figures are not faceless anymore, but take on real human expression. No longer floating helplessly around, they are very much grounded; their outlines do not overlap but form moving lips, messy hair, and crumpled shirts. Black ink lines depict seagulls and traffic cones, the narrowly winding Cornish streets, and the people that pepper the beach all the way down to the shore. Prokofiev’s initial connection to Cornwall linked back to the Gray’s Helen Sutherland art collection. Bright with light, these paintings exhibit a playfulness and mnemonic quality. Sprawled in the sun or swimming in circles in the treacly sea, a collection of sleepy wanderers have found themselves at the world’s end. These are dozy hazy barbecue evenings, where hair is shaken loose and takes on the sunset. Gold coins spill over heads and scatter through the water. The colours are euphoric, fiercely atmospheric wistful. The golden hourglass sands meet fuzzy felt skies; painted fishing boats drift out on endless shores. Sunburnt and breezy, the children chase their pointy faced dogs along the beach. As though waking up and seeing colour for the first time, there is an ease to the artist’s later technique, a lazy meandering of brushes and contentment in leaving things unfinished. Waylaid by sea creatures that recede and advance with the tides, the sun is blooming, dropping its petals in the blistering heat. The velvet dunes are combed with driftwood fires and seagulls land, fluttering like clean laundry. These are old postcards, meditative, fading, places where shell seekers follow the shadows like sun dials.
Portrait Of Sculpture 1 Oil on board, 61 x 54 cm 1992
Painting Of Sculpture Vll Oil on board, 56 x 76 cm, 1992
Multicoloured Sculpture Oil on board, 59 x 84 cm, 1992
Interior (At The Table) Oil on canvas, 63 x 63 cm 1994
Deep Garden Oil on canvas, 91 x 76 cm 1995
Carnival Oil on canvas, 137 x 81 cm 1995
Fireworks Oil on canvas , 100 x 81 cm 1995
Green Orb Oil on wood, 43 x 66 cm, 1995
Figure In A Wood (Spring) Oil on wood, 87 x 44 cm 1995
Figure In A wood (Autumn) Oil on wood, 87 x 44 cm 1995
Odyssey Oil on canvas, 183 x 142 cm 1995
Conflagration Oil on canvas, 73 x 100 cm, 1995
Interior (Cat On Chair) Oil on canvas, 76 x 61 cm 1995
Blue Landscape Acrylic on canvas, 82 x 101 cm, 1995
Garden Studio Acrylic on canvas, 106 x 81 cm 1996
To The Arch Acrylic on canvas, 76 x 101 cm, 1996
Configuration (Pink/Blue/Green) Acrylic on canvas, 61 x 51 cm 1996
Configuration (Aubergine) Acrylic on canvas, 76 x 61 cm 1996
ORB – Dark Interior Acrylic on canvas, 92 x 76 cm 1996
Eclipse Acrylic on canvas, 63 x 47 cm 1996
Red Interior Acrylic on canvas, 69 x 76 cm, 1996
Boy Between Screens Acrylic on canvas, 71 x 71 cm 1996
The Duet Acrylic on canvas, 86 x 72 cm 1996
At The Table Acrylic on canvas, 96 x 71 cm 1996
A Secret Wedding Acrylic on canvas, 76 x 97 cm, 1996
The Candle Acrylic on canvas, 66 x 92 cm, 1997
Hay Hill Gallery 35 Baker Street London W1U 8EN T: +44 (0) 20 7486 6006 F: +44 (0) 70 5362 1735 www.hayhillgallery.com E: info@hayhillgallery.com