Oleg Prokofiev
Oleg Prokofiev (1928-1998) was a prominent artist, sculptor and a poet. Son of the great Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev, he became a member of a small group of abstract artists defying Soviet socialist realism in the 1950s. His meditative compositions from the 50s and 60s are now exhibited at the Tretyakov Gallery (20th century), the national museum of Russian art in Moscow. He left Russia in 1971, settling in the UK, where his abstract work continued to develop, going through several distinct stages: from thickly textured oil-paintings in pale, dreamy colours, through to vividly coloured, highly rhythmic sculptures.
The Poet.
I like the music of the spheres
it hasn't punctuation marks
harmony doesn't stumble
poses are not clogged
and what you hear from one muteness
imperceptibly moves into another
the clothes of sounds are thrown over
they can be taken off in layers
starting with sporadic shouts
— of costumes then to light rustles —
of underwear to the undressed lack of sounds
down to the mystery of naked silence
Oleg Prokofiev, The Scent of Absence, 1995
