Pavel Feinstein : Les Petits Fours - The Small Format

Inspired by seventeenth-century painting, the author transposes artistic traditions to the present day, toys with the viewer's perceptions and sometimes even blurs the boundaries between the painter and the model.

Citrus fruits with empty oyster shells, chicken eggs stamped with best-before dates and unmoving nudes in empty spaces: Inspired by seventeenth-century painting, Pavel Feinstein transposes artistic traditions to the present day, toys with the viewer’s perceptions and sometimes even blurs the boundaries between the painter and the model. This publication is dedicated to the still lifes and nudes of an artist born in Moscow with Jewish roots, who emigrated to Germany in 1980 and now works in Berlin. Pavel Feinstein’s painting style is unmistakeable. A grey, undefined background underpins a pictorial subject, one or several objects, carefully arranged and sensuously captured. Although his work may inevitably bring to mind the compositions of earlier colleagues, such as Cézanne, Manet or Van Gogh, Feinstein’s work is characterised by additional elements: He transposes desirable objects into austere spaces and imbues his ensembles with a mysterious, melancholy air through purposeful composition. In collaboration with Galerie Kiefer this volume presents works of art created by the artist, who decides “what stays and what goes” as he paints, between 2013 and 2015.