Many of us from childhood remember the myth of Daedalus, who managed to fly away from the island of Crete from the tyrannical ruler of Minos. Daedalus, the father of Icarus, created wings for himself and for his son, but the fastening element of the wings was wax, melting from the heat, and when the day of departure came, Daedalus strictly forbade Icarus to approach the sun, but young Icarus was so keen on flying and a wonderful sense of freedom, that he had forgotten his father’s mandate, and too close to the fireball of the Sun - the wax melted and Daedalus fell into the sea.
Many artists turned to this plot in their work, an illustrative example is the picture of Icarus Fall by Peter Brueghel the Elder.
Alexander Oligerov at the exhibition "Heavenly Office" presented his vision of the myth of Icarus. On the canvas we see Icarus falling, surrounded by three birds, the composition of the picture is fragmentary, since Icarus has cut off his hands and hips, and the third bird is guessed by the wing and a small part of the body. The figure of Icarus, made with one touch of a brush, recalls the work of the late Henri Matisse, king of Fauvism. As you know, in adulthood, Matisse refused all that was superfluous in his painting, left a minimum of detail in his works, giving vent to clean lines. So Oliger refuses individual character traits and writes a conditional figure.
Oligerov’s work is characterized by bright colors - in particular, in this picture, where the violet-red background conveys the tragedy of what is happening before our eyes - Oligerov’s canvas carries the dream of flying, the joy of every day, the contemplation of nature.
Ikar at Oligerov is that person who was lucky enough to fly for a short amount of time together with the original inhabitants of the Heavenly Chancellery - birds. Like his father, Icarus was able to make the dream a reality, so Oliger does not portray death itself in its true manifestation, namely the process of flight.
As on many of his canvases the Oligers gives birds the leading role, so on this canvas the birds are the main characters - they are pure and immaculate, they do not have the desire to fly above their capabilities, they enjoy what they have, therefore Icarus against their background loses. For Oligerov, the nature of birds is more harmonious than the human nature - a person is prone to vices and weaknesses, animals are natural creatures to which the artist gives the right to dominate the earth.