Movement. Dynamics. Achievement of the aim. Confrontation. Creation. Overcoming. Aspiration. Power. Personification of male principle and its reproductive power. Fertility. Reproductive forces of nature.

For me the Bull is a powerful and brimming symbol, deeply rooted in history. Comprehension of the Bull’s symbolism is shrouded in myths, legends and sagas. Many cult and religious rituals are connected with it. I perceive it as a tangle of associations, memories, images of the collective unconscious from deep antiquity, modern day archetypes. The list of associative meanings and images is endless: the Wall Street Charging Bull, the ancient world, Christianity, Minoan culture, Ancient Rome, Scandinavian myths, Ancient Sumerian culture, Judaism, Egyptian rites and Zodiac definition of the Bull, Buddhism, a teenager’s baseball T-shirt print and so on. 

For me the image of The Bull is first and foremost a resurgent and creating power of the Sun, which is my favourite symbol, connected with the energy of creativity, creative origin. 

Sometimes the Bulls in my paintings become lunar and this is already quite another story about female principle and taming of male and savage. The Bull having been put in a vessel of a female shape invariably gives birth to bloom in my paintings and personifies spring and revival. And there again arises the theme of recurrence of nature rhythms and interaction of male and female principles. The Bull drowning in blooming motives of floristic forms from the cycle «Fertility» appears to throw its strength and virility at the feet of pervasive femininity. It remains powerful, but with a joy and delight of a tired warrior it plunges itself into a fairy tale of sweet and heady dream, at last finding peace and tranquility.

The Bull is also Spain’s symbol. Mediterranean motives open just like a fan in my paintings: from idle Fiesta to life sensation brimming with passion of existence in the vein of folklore character called Duende. 

Quite often a severed head of the Bull in my paintings graces altar table or becomes the main point of a magnificent feast. The tables, altar and festive, echo each other, the feast becomes a ritual and the ritual turns into a magnificent celebration. Table plane has a special sacral meaning for me. This is both Niko Pirosmani’s generous Caucasian treat and the Last Supper by Da Vinci and just a plain modern kitchen table in apartment house which gathers all family. In this context the Bull in my paintings personifies victory over an animal nature of a human being and life that has come through death. When earthly passions, base aspirations, lust and ignorance give way to goodness.

The Bull’s Dream

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