In autumn 2019, the New Museum of Aslan Chekhoyev, with the support of DiDi Gallery, opens exhibition “Gardens of Eden”, which for the first time presents a new series of works by the famous St. Petersburg painter Vyacheslav Mikhailov.

Mikhailov became famous for his special approach to painting developed back in the 70s: heavy, gesso-drenched canvases, the surface of which is distinguished by its multi-layered volumetric texture. For decades, he created his work in a gloomy palette, so that his artistic language became recognizable not only in Russia but also abroad. Gradually, the author comes to a bright and light colors. In 2017 Vyacheslav Mikhailov began work on the cycle “Paradise Gardens”, within which 35 towels appeared. They are all written in a new, unusual style for the artist — their cheerful palette opens the door to an unknown and mysterious world.

What is this world like? It is the place, where as one of the main characters color stands out in its entirety. Like a secret revelation it was given to a spectator — a visitor to the Garden of Eden, which conceals in his curve outfalls a precious source of life. However, nobody is able to get it. We can only silently contemplate, it includes allure and at the same time danger of this land.

In the author’s interpretation, the concept of the "Garden of Eden" is incredibly multifaceted and dynamic. Various represents about this mystical place find embodiment in multiple metamorphoses. In some paintings juicy buds of unknown flowers bloom into flames. In others cosmic landscapes of cold tonal overflows with craters and dunes of bizarre shapes are guessed. Meaning of paradise is also changed from one canvas to another. On one hand, it presents as meditative state or immersion in contemplation. And on the other hand, it exists in intense and energetic vigorous efforts of search.

V. Mikhailov’s “Gardens of Eden” is a bewitching kaleidoscope, where love and suffering, the birth of life and the end of the universe are carried by fiery handles. Artists who excite the audience will show unique visual experiences. In each work, a special mysterious flicker pulsates like a world thread that leads a wayfarer to distant and eternal lands.

Lyubov Shakirova, Senior Researcher of the State Russian Museum: “In the new cycle of works by Vyacheslav Mikhailov, we left a surviving, plowed field in which a man struggled with himself and with the forces that created him. There is no sea, there is no suffering, there is no man himself, but there is a sea, fields, rivers of generously bestowed color. It seems that all the struggles, ruins and ashes were a long-awaited artist“.