City

A series in which the author explores concepts of collective memory, time, and cultural-historical identity. A key feature of the project is the artist’s unique technique of «pictorial excavation»: the artist applies acrylic enamel to a wooden base in layers, then scrapes and chips away the paint layers, forming figurative images within the material. The author was inspired to create this method by the multilayered nature of the urban environment—municipal services paint playgrounds, fences, and curbs over the years, creating thick accumulations. By manually cutting through the paint, Potapov reveals hidden silhouettes that reference archival photographs, Soviet sgraffito decor, and themes from the country’s history. By removing the top layers, the artist literally draws images from the «historical subconscious, ” making classical painting border on sculpture and archaeology.

The project investigates the phenomenon of the «fragility of existence» through the optical deconstruction of the post-Soviet interior myth. The apartment spaces of the 90s—with their carpets, photo wallpaper, sideboards, and festive tables—always conveyed the idea of absolute isolation and security. During a period of economic hardship and general national decline, this naive, in its own way touching, middle-class coziness and the kitsch of spontaneous decorations became the only psychological defense for people. Attempts to recreate a «beautiful life» amid decay using photo wallpaper featuring palm trees or elaborate dinnerware were the construction of a crafted cocoon of memory. The powerful, deliberately monumental language of Socialist Realist painting, intended to praise the pathos of labor and the struggle for a bright future, is utilized as a tool to heroize private, fragile post-Soviet life. The primary dramatic and compositional spine of every canvas is a focused stream of light breaking through the window opening. The nature of this light remains enigmatic—is it solar, artificial, or spiritual? The window ceases to be a utilitarian source of light and transforms into a portal from which an unknown, irreversible force emanates—a force that alters the laws of physics within the enclosed room and instantly nullifies any human attempt to shield oneself from external anxiety.

This body of work investigates the fragility of the individual and habitual personal space when faced with the aggressive intrusion of an external, overwhelming collective reality. The narrative of total deconstruction unfolds at the intersection of intimate domesticity, panel microdistricts, and monumental architecture: private interiors and entire urban landscapes are breached by the weight of alien grand facades. The light hanging from palace chandeliers loses its splendor, transforming into a oppressive, alienated force that displaces the human figure. The physical rupture, deformation, and thermal fusion of the canvas in melting painting visualize a liminal state where the remnants of accustomed ways of life are frozen. The paintings capture the moment when rigid external regulations and superhuman scales literally shatter the roofs and ceilings of private existence, leaving behind only concealed fissures and void. The project conveys the premonition of impending tectonic shifts through the deconstruction of objectified memory, the crumbling tiles of daily life, and the radical displacement of habitable scale.