The contemporary artist Pavel Mikushev is one of the outstanding representatives of Komi ethnofuturism, a participant of nationwide and international exhibitions. His distinctive paintings are inspired by Finno-Ugric myths, folklore, Komi decorative art, and relics of the Perm animal style. In his subtle ethnographic paintings, Mikushev offers his own interpretation of sacred Komi images.
“Sacred Grove” features allusions to numerous traditional beliefs. One of them is related to the worldview where humans occupy only a small visible part. In the archaic concepts of many peoples, the world consisted of three parts: the Underworld was inhabited by evil forces and souls of the dead, the Middle World — by humans, and the Upper World — by spirits and deities.
Trees, animals, and people are depicted in the visible Middle World. A birch was a sacred tree in Komi mythology. Moreover, the Tree of Life often symbolized a three-part world structure: the roots corresponded to the Underworld, the trunk — to the Middle World, and the crown — to the Upper World. A bear and a moose were the totem animals of the Komi tribes. A shaman or a demigod could be depicted with the head of a totem animal and the body of a human. Along with a bird and a lizard, these were some of the most powerful and popular images in the Perm animal style.
He and She, a man and a woman, represent the human race. Together, they hold a woven cloth, its connected threads symbolizing the intertwined fates of humans. The tree may allude to the image of a spinning wheel. Pagans used to believe that each person has a tree soulmate. Komi referred to this concept as “lovpu”. These trees grow in an eternal invisible forest, connecting the worlds of ancestors and descendants. The spinning wheel symbolizes the creation of life and therefore embodies the beginning of earthly life.
The Upper Vychegda painting on the spinning wheel is associated with the name of Wassily Kandinsky and his trip across the Vologda Governorate and the Komi region. The solar signs, depicted on spinning wheels by Pavel Mikushev, are also found in Kandinsky’s paintings. The painter’s interest in this subject indicates his fascination with the ideas of abstract art which describe the cosmic order.
