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'Kremlin Refinery' painting series
The first sketches of the series were painted by Pukka Sahib in 2012-2014.
Most recent major paintings were created in 2020-2021.
The idea behind the 'Kremlin Refinery' series describes the artist's vision of the dramatic fate of Russia.
"Kremlin Refinery" - a kind of allegory, describing, according to Pukka Sahib, the place of Russia in modern world history. A huge country that has long ceased to offer the world any civilizational ideas, cultural values and projects to improve the world, in fact, turned into a giant oil plant. Not a commitment to democratic values and the alternation of power, not the development of freedoms and the formation of a society of progressive citizens, but the rampant exploitation of the subsoil, the production and sale of oil - the only source of preserving the political regime that drives the fate of the largest country by area into an absolute vacuum, isolation and inevitable historical deadlock. The author's four works show his vision of how the country came to this turn of events and what awaits Russia in the near future.
Kremlin refinery at the dusk. Canvas, oil.
Size: 200 cm x 300 cm
The painting shows all the economic and political background of life in modern Russia which has formed in recent decades.
The refinery is located right on the territory of the Kremlin. Tanks of petroleum products ply the historic complex, which is also the residence of the president, and an oil tanker floats along the Moskva River, more like a warship that protects the waters around the Kremlin. The Russian tricolor flag burns out and turns to fire and smoke. Everything around it glows and blazes, a climax in the moment. It is incredibly colorful and bright, but at the same time it becomes clear that this is the final fire, which will soon destroy everything around it. A silhouette can be seen in one of the windows of the Kremlin building. Flames are raging in the office and the character is clearly seen in agony and helplessness.
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Kremlin refinery at night.
Canvas, oil.
Size: 175 cm x 350 cm
The fire was so terrible and destructive that the remains of the fire can also be seen in the water.
Perhaps, the refinery was damaged and shut down.
However, another detail is more remarkable - it is a certain creature on a submarine, which is expelled by the Russian flag and which goes under the water.
Here, the SAR clearly refers to the story of the sinking of the submarine 'Kursk', which like a number of other dramatic events was launched the last phase of Russia's disintegration. It was then that the country's rulers felt there was no need for democratic freedoms, and President Putin, in an interview with Larry King, said with a cynical smile: "It has sunk." Yes, "it has drowned" emphasised the artist. It- is Russia, what is now called "the Russian ship."
Kremlin refinery in the morning.
Canvas, oil.
Size: 175 cm x 350 cm
Two-headed Russian eagle flows into the Chinese dragon. According to the author - this is the inevitable drama of modern Russia, which seems destined to become a raw materials appendage of China, losing part of its territory.
The Kremlin Refinery. Infinity. Canvas, oil.
Size: 200 cm x 300 cm
So it was. So it will be. History goes far into the past and it becomes apparent... the inevitability of such a development. History, which has become a layering of a huge number of factors and events, but inevitably leads to the fact that the fate of a great country is repeated over and over again. It is like an endless enchanted circle....