more bright than no light

October 22nd – November 2nd, 2022

Artist: Stefan Saskov

Reception on Tuesday, October 25h from 6 to 8pm

“More Bright than No Light” 

The works that are part of the “More Bright than No Light” exhibition were inspired by ambient/avant-garde music by musicians such as Brian and Roger Eno, Jon Hassell, Harold Budd, Michael Brook, Daniel Lanois, and Robert Fripp, and it reflects the amorphous, abstract, mysterious, and not-so-easy to define and describe works by these music artists. The titles of their albums also serve as the titles for some of these pictures.

All of the aforementioned artists are considered creative pioneers in their respective genres, while their music is characterized by the innovative use of available technologies in the creation of music that is both abstract and concrete in the manner of visual arts. The pictures reflect Shashkov’s fascination with the depth and the uniqueness of the music produced by these renowned artists that have inspired him to convert them into tangible visual works of art. There is also a fascination with the curious, risk-taking character and spirit of these people. This fascination has inspired him to create several varied series of visual artworks that are abstract by nature. At the same time, Shashkov is very well acquainted with the visual artists connected to this group of people and who had an active role or have provided the inspiration in the creation of their original artworks. He finds inspiration in the Surrealist and Dada aquarelles of Kurt Schwitters, Max Ernst, and Paul Klee, the minimalism of Mark Rothko or Piet Mondrian, Kandinsky, but first and foremost Russell Mills, a multimedia artist who is the biggest inspiration behind these works and is directly linked to all of the previously mentioned musicians.