Page 153 - Maxim_Painting_Monograph

Dostoevsky and the Symbol of The Crystal Palace, acrylic on canvas, 2022
In his Winter Notes on Summer Impressions, Dostoyevsky presented the Crystal Palace as a symbol of the controlling mechanism of utilitarian rationalism, a creation of Baal that would offer material abundance while demanding the sac- rifice of spirit, autonomy, and authenticity. The painter sees this place as a cold, senseless emptiness of hell for many generations with the involuntary handicap of a loveless life. While there is hope of a Trinitarian river flowing beneath it. Overlooked. Filling with the rejected refuse of imperfection. The other—although close to me—is my failure to live ful- ly; he confirms my loneliness. Our emotions don’t coincide, but our inner pain of traveling together without compan- ionship is the same. Our nakedness reveals us as impersonal objects of pleasure, outside the bounds of relation, of mu- tual self-offering. The blindness in the eyes points to the deprivation of the vision of our real goal.
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