Ilya Volykhine
Not Very Superstitious $10,500 Status: Sold
Black Cat $10,500 Status: Available
Salt Over My Shoulder $6,950 Status: Available
Bird in the House $10,500 Status: Available
Intrepid Traveller $6,950 Status: Available
Blowing the Money Away $6,950 Status: Available
Hat on the Bed $6,950 Status: Available
Bed Jumping $10,500 Status: Available
Itchy Palms $10,500 Status: Available
Knock on Wood $12,500 Status: Available
Step on a Crack $12,500 Status: Available
Inviting a Storm $12,500 Status: Available
Seven Years $12,500 Status: Sold
Very Superstitious – Lucky 13
13 New Works by Ilya Volykhine
Very Superstitious looks at the small superstitious habits people use every day to feel in control. From a black cat crossing the road and a hat on the bed to an umbrella opened indoors or three people clinking glasses, Volykhine’s paintings focus on familiar signs of good and bad luck. The works explore how these quirky behaviours are often our way of coping with stress and uncertainty.
While cultural folklore often paints superstitious behaviour as harmless storytelling, Volykhine’s new collection probes beneath the surface, asking whether these irrational compulsions reveal something fundamental about human vulnerability and mental health.
“My own self-identification as a highly superstitious person brought me to a curiosity about what makes some people superstitious and not others,” says Volykhine. “Superstition functions as a means of reducing the stressful, anxiety-provoking state of having a lack of control over our environment. We cling to false associations in a desperate attempt to gain an illusion of control.”
Volykhine builds his art using a mix of oil paint and paper collage directly on the canvas. He layers paper, print, and drawing pieces under thick paint, partially hiding and revealing shapes and text underneath. Just like the habits we build to hide our worries, his layered technique adds depth and story to every piece, giving viewers plenty to discover.
• Dates: 17 September – 10 October
enquiries: ron@exhibitionsgallery.co.nz