Staged Print

“Staged” derives directly from a famous photograph of the Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky on set during the rolling of the movie “Stalker”. This classic, critically acclaimed, movie as been an enormous influence in my artistic practice for as far as I can remember. The movie itself is an undeniable masterpiece, but there is something particularly special and intriguing about the scene here represented. It is difficult to put into words the importance it has on the context of the whole story, except that it is a moment of profound revelation for the characters. This being said, for me, it has always been elevated to the stand of a religious experience, and this location in particular being the “cathedral” of the Stalker. So, it was with great shock and surprise that I discovered this to be, upon seeing the original photo for the first time, a complete fabrication of the director. I have always thought this place to be real, existing somewhere in the world. Something that Tarkovsky had found and decided to use for the movie, such is the quality of its creation. This is what suggested the tittle for the work, for everything here as been staged, even the director is himself sitting on a stage, contemplating his creation. After the impact of this image subsided, came the overly dramatic realization that, apparently, nothing can be trusted anymore. I have come across the original picture during the early days of the 2020 pandemic, in a moment in time when misinformation was a plate served daily on the news and trying to discern between the information given in the various modern channels of media available today had become a most futile exercise of self-discipline. It seemed rather ironic that this image would fall into my line of sight on such a particular moment, and so I decided to use it as the basis for the creation of this work. Undoubtedly there is a certain degree of both comical and tragic in my approach and I trust the viewer will perceive that bipolar nature of the painting. Some aspects of the composition were altered to serve the means of expressing elements that are recurrent in my oeuvre, such as the birch trees, which symbolizes rebirth. I also felt the need to modify the represented space itself, to bring about a more clean and open feeling to it. As for the central character, the director himself, it was untouched from the original, except that I decided to had a second stage at the bottom of the image, in a way to induce a confrontation with the man that had just removed the rug from under my feet, in what was, until then, the closest thing I’ve ever had to a spiritual experience. Thus, I decided to put Tarkovsky on stage, because that is, apparently, what this world is all about.

Print:Giclee on Fine Art Paper

Size:9 W x 12 H x 0.1 D in

Size with Frame:14.25 W x 17.25 H x 1.2 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.