Gallery “Kvartira S” and the ARTPLAY Design Center are opening the exhibition “The Big Dream” by Alexander Votsmush, a master of watercolor known as the “maestro of transparency” and “a man who can see through paint.” The artist’s new works are watercolor notes on wanderings, impressions, and dreams. In places they recall travel sketches made on the run: a lane in old Europe, a seaport, a cozy café. And elsewhere they turn into dreams — landscapes blur, figures take on fantastical outlines, and reality becomes a play of color and association.

Votsmush brings together humor and lyricism. His works are recognizable for their lightness and precision: they seem to breathe the air of the place where they were born. In them one senses the rhythm of the city, the salt taste of a sea wind, nighttime conversations, and chance dreams along the road.

The exhibition “The Big Dream” includes new watercolors by Alexander Votsmush that have not previously been shown in Moscow. The works reflect the artist’s various states and impressions: from sunlit streets and seascapes to nocturnal dreams. In them one can see a blend of humor and the artist’s philosophical view of the world around him, as well as his particular attention to the details and atmosphere of the places where the works were made.

Alexander Votsmush on his project: “It seems to me that watercolor is closest of all to dreams. It knows how to flow, dissolve, vanish, and appear again. On my travels I gather moments — later they return in sleep and become paintings.”

About the artist:

Alexander Votsmush was born in Omsk and grew up in Sevastopol. He found his calling in watercolor, and today he is regarded as one of the most vivid and distinctive masters of this medium. Votsmush’s works have been exhibited in Russia and abroad, including as part of a Sotheby’s program. The artist travels widely, teaches watercolor, plays music, makes films, and gathers impressions that become the foundation of his art.