In the blackness, one small white dot indicates light in the distance far away, but how far?  Is it within reach or is it an infinite distance away?   In another area of blackness there are thin black lines, the chinks of light through a door; is the door opening, is it closing, or given is it locked? 

These are just two of the paintings of one of Russian artist Erik Bulatov (b 1933), the master of illusionary perspective who through the simplest of graphics creates complexity depth of meaning.  Two words, one in red and one in blue, so that “No Entrance” is the bold forbidding barrier to “Entrance” which recedes in perspective, but with an optical illusion – which is in front of the other and therefore is this a message of blockage – the end, or is this a message of hope – the beginning?

Erik Bulatov is one of the most important contemporary Russian artists on the international stage, being recognised by the American Friends of the Hermitage Museum as an artist of seminal importance in 2012 and with retrospective exhibitions held in Russia in 2006 and 2014, the last attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors.  His graphics have echos of traditional Russian lettering and to constructivism.  With just a few letters and lines, usually in black or white, he intertwines the meaning of words with their position in space.  In other paintings he links back to the tradition of 19^th century landscape paintings such as in the work “The Apparition of Christ to the People”, where he plays with perspective, illusion and with time, with Christ standing alone on the hillside while down in the valley are crowds of people from biblical times and closer to the viewer are crowds from today.   Are they engaged or are they just observers.  What is Bulatov saying about modern religion.  He also has experimented with other illusions, but perhaps less successfully.  In “Special femmes”, Bulatov explores reality and unreality with the women on the cover of the magazine in a pose that could be the same as lying on the beach.

Bulatov’s work is shown in the historic surroundings of 3 Grafton Street in Mayfair, London built in the late 18^th century when the troublesome colonists in North America were revolting against the heavy taxes being levied by the British government and Captain Cook was exploring Australia and New Zealand.  In London, wealthy merchants and landowners were employing fashionable architects such as Sir Robert Taylor to build their new homes such as 3 to 6 Grafton Street in Mayfair, that of No 3 being made even grander at the start of the 20^th century with the addition of a staircase hall that rises through the entire height of the building.

A few years after this terrace of houses of built, Phillips action house was founded in 1796.  Almost two hundred and twenty years later, Phillip’s former chairman Simon de Pury and his wife established de PURY de PURY in No 3 Grafton Street working in partnership with the owner of the building, Polish billionaire Jan Kulczyk and his daughter Kasia as an exhibition space for curated exhibitions of modern and contemporary art, opening in 2014 with the colourful work of Polish artist Wojciech Fangor, and now showing Erik Bulatov..

What a joy to find a gallery that breaks from “White Cube” school of gallery design, with relentless white walls and concrete or timber floors which compliments and contrasts with contemporary art in part by use of some tones in the colour scheme.

“What could initially be perceived as two very contrasting things can in fact mutually enhance each other: Seeing great Old Master paintings, Renaissance bronzes, or 18th-century furniture in a white-cube environment can be equally exciting and stimulating. Seeing an artwork outside of its habitual environment makes you look at it differently and may make you appreciate it even more.”  (Simon de Pury)