Zahar Vaks

Zahar Vaks describes his work, which is rooted in painting and drawing, this way:

My paintings are material narratives made alive through my multi-sensory approach to creation. Smell and touch are just as important to me as seeing the work. I pair traditional art materials, such as oil, balsam tree sap, and pigments, with ingredients used in cooking, such as beet powder and turmeric. I’m thinking about sensory connections too: playing the violin, moving my body, finding rhymes in English and Russian, and what happens when I manipulate recorded moving images and sounds. For example, the gestures in my painting echo the use of vibrato when I play the violin. And as with dancing, my paintings contain multiple speeds. A quick bold gesture can dissolve into a slow and subtle remnant. The presence and absence of structure plays a significant role when I am constructing forms and conjuring imagery.