Lot 128: - Kerim Ragimov , b.1970 Human Project. Portrait No.37 oil on canvas

signed in Latin l.r.; further signed and titled in Latin and dated 2008 on the reverse oil on canvas

195 by 238cm., 76 3/4 by 93 3/4 in.

Marina Gisich Gallery, St.Petersburg

Ragimov on his Human Project Series: "I make the paintings anonymous by removing all accompanying information or explanation from the original. This silencing of information seems to me to be a perfect inaudible soundtrack to the work. For me the meaning of the Human Project Series lies in the way man's image is perceived in the Eastern Christian icon painting tradition. The issue is one of the image and the Primordial Image, the connection between the two, the sense of awe you feel before them, and their connection. In this work the heroes are J.K. Rowling, two of her cousins and a friend. But perhaps the real protagonist is that of childhood. Vivid childhood memories go into battle with ghosts of the present, and win. All that is secret becomes clear, and the grass, which then was greener, stays like that forever".