Memory

On memory, Ladyzhensky says, “I am now intensively digging up my memory, trying like an archaeologist to extract some shards from it in order to assemble them as a single vase.” He compares his process to a pilgrim’s journey, and an endless voyage at sea, describing his memory as “a ship that endlessly sails the oceans...gradually covered by the barnacles of my thoughts and reflections. And like a ship is cleared of the barnacles that cling to its bottom when it rests at his home port, I, too – metaphorically – found my breath when I recovered my past. This past became vivid for me, and my skill in expressing it will make it vivid and beautiful for others.”

These paintings use color to evoke the sensations and sounds of Ladyzhensky’s vivid memories. His palette veers from bright and saturated, as in Scenery for a School Play, to nuanced and subdued, as in Unemployed Musicians. In his nearly monochromatic painting Our Theater is Burning, the red is as loud as the commotion of horses and onlookers, while the blues and grays in I’m Listening to the Radio for the First Time are mellow and dreamy. Meanwhile, the earthy tones in Our Parents are Sleeping capture the quietness of this childhood memory.

To what extent do these images present real memories, as opposed to general impressions? What did Ladyzhensky recall in sharp detail, and what did he invent?