"This bas-relief was decorated with a magnificent restaurant "MOST" @most.restaurant in Borovichi, standing on the banks of the Msta River.
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When I received a request from a client and a designer to make an abstract panel, I decided to first get attached to the history of the restaurant's name. Obviously, it was attributed to a nearby real bridge and some kind of wordplay ("most" English – a lot, most). But then I wanted to dig deeper and fill the panel with meanings.
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That's how I found out about the former merchant house of the Mitrofanov family of the 19th century . (the place where the restaurant is located) and about the fact that this family was well-known businessmen and patrons in the city. Then I plunged into the history of the customers - the Antonov family and was amazed at how similar the line between the Mitrofanovs and them is. Real merchants of the 21st century, with their own production in Borovichi. They are also known and revered by the townspeople. I could not imagine what efforts it cost them to buy this house and make a global reconstruction, which they have been engaged in for more than 10 years – it would be easier, cheaper and faster to demolish and build anew! Now it is an object of cultural heritage of regional significance. For customers, the restaurant is a family dream, a true place of strength.
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A concept was born in my head, where there was no connection to the real bridge, only symbolism. The panel became the personification of the bond between the merchant family Mitrofanov and family Antonovs, through the ages. After all, in fact, they also revive the best traditions of Russian merchants: they are engaged in charity, patronage, ennoble the territory around, that is, in the literal sense, they build mental, historical BRIDGES.
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I refused to broadcast the "bridge" verbatim, taking as a basis only two conditional shores and elements of their connection. The image for these "shores" was one of my previously executed art objects created under the impression of Antelope Canyon, where you can clearly see how the air, gently skirting an obstacle, blows out only weak rock, leaving only a skeleton - an imprint of the movement of the elements. This was the metaphor: two steep banks, between them the trace of the river of time, cutting off everything superfluous on both sides, and a small unifying bow – the very BRIDGE."