Ukrainian artist, Alexey Kondakov, connects the “high” of classical art with the “low” of contemporary routine, using the past as an optical instrument to examine the present. Blending romanticism with postmodern immediacy, he creates a surreal space where gods and mythological figures become ordinary people, and modern individuals replay eternal legends.

Kondakov plucks figures from neoclassical and romantic paintings and places them into modern settings, primarily working with backgrounds he’s photographed throughout his native Kyiv and other European cities including Berlin, Milan, and Naples. Often laden with graffiti and modern conveniences like electric stovetops and vehicles, the harsh, urban settings counter the soft, angelic characteristics of the Old Masters.

From this fusion of the sublime and the mundane emerges Kondakov’s documentary surrealism—a vision rooted in the contradictions of digital existence. The Internet becomes both refuge and stage, a realm where information is hidden by being shared, and life endures through connection. In this landscape, art history’s grand narratives dissolve into the living galleries of social networks, where Kondakov’s characters continue their ceaseless metamorphosis.