From October 21 to November 9, the BIS ART GALLERY will host Anna Konopleva’s solo exhibition «The Shadow Laughs». The artist examines the image of the shadow through a metamodern paradigm, combining emotional depth with ironic reflection. Anna Konopleva suggests going beyond the material and giving free rein to an unconventional perception of the world around us. Her works reflect the ability of human thinking to complement reality with its own images, to reveal the meaning of everyday life through fantasy and humor.

Fantasy is an internal mechanism that allows one to imagine the invisible. It is a bridge between the conscious and the unconscious, helping to visualize desires and expand the boundaries of perception.

Shadows serve as a source of images that evoke a game of imagination. Without them, everything would seem flat, like the models in computer games with low graphics. As a child, the shadows were either funny dancing friends, or rivals: hares and snails appeared from their hands. On the street, shadows turned into dangerous areas where one should not step, and a long silhouette in the night could arouse interest and even fear. Fantasy always completed more than the object itself provided.

As adults, the play of shadows is perceived less and less, rather they remind us of Plato’s cave. And yet sometimes we notice that the shadows are trying to make us laugh and
they laugh themselves: when a dog turns into a mythical beast, and their own legs turn into frog paws. The ability to fantasize shows reality not as a finite answer, but as a field for interpretation.

Curators: Maya Abuelez, Anna Ponamareva