“A recurring theme in the series of 20 oil paintings titled “Aware Mammals” is the interaction between humans and animals, which is repeatedly presented as an affectionate, embracing physical contact between them. Although titles like “Walking the dog” and “Feeding the crow” might lead one to think that the piece will feature a fully domesticated animal, we rather see a dog walking a sorrowful man and a woman lovingly, almost submissively, lifting up a huge blue crow.

Anton Ian’s practice is particularly fastened around equality. Between man and animal. Between the motive and the space of the room. There are no hierarchical systems to be found. He is not an artist who values the subject higher than the surfaces. This is especially evident in the work “Piano” showing a man and a gravity-defying yellow bear playing on a potently red piano. The floor is a dark citrine yellow, the walls; a sharp turquoise, and a window opens for a desert landscape with a royal blue starfilled sky; Here Ian draws up a world where a pianoduet between man and bear is a natural; and where strong colors and fine details are not reserved for the subject, but are evenly distributed between all parts of the painting.

The colors are saturated, spectralcolors, and toned in a way that suggests that the nuances are developed as light bends when it meets fabric; not through lightening and darkening with black and white, but through coordinated color mixing, with a strong emphasis on clear yellow, ultramarine, phthalo turquoise, a cool, deep red, and violet.

With a color saturation reminiscent of 17th-century red robes, tones like Emil Nolde’s dahlias, compositions like Matisse’s Le Luxe II, thick oily brushstrokes like Dana Schutz, surrealism’s playfulness and softness, the Russian spiritual heritage, and a non-hierarchical weight distribution that can be described as Chinese Taoism, Anton Ian paints imprints with roots in the unknown that extend beyond Europe’s painting culture. Anton’s works touch me deeply, as they carry a childhoods sorrow and wonder, that is older than Humankind itself.”

– Johanne Pi, visual artist and writer