NOR DREAD NOR HOPE: VANITAS REVISITED

Alexandra Suvorova is no stranger to loss. Her early experiences in the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster inspired her to explore immortality and the human body’s inherent fragility through art. Inspired by the Baroque period, she paints parallels between nature, modern science, and human condition under the pseudonym Baroque Anarchist.

Installation shots courtesy of gallery via Instagram

A trained painter from Moscow, Suvorova obtained a BFA in painting at Surikov Art Institute, along with a degree in contemporary painting at Moscow’s Institute of Contemporary Art Issues (CAI) in 2012. She also has a background in theatre, with an MFA in stage and costume design from Surikov, and a PhD in theatre design from the Department of Painting at the Russian Art Academy in Moscow. Through her formal studies and training, Suvorova discovered a love for the Baroque tradition and the methods of Old Masters. Her work echoes their careful techniques and styles, such as grisaille and tenebrism, used to create depth, stark contrasts, and realistic textures that marked a period also defined significant scientific contributions from figures such as William Harvey, an English physician, and Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, a Dutch microbiologist and microscopist. 

Using the rich, theatrical style from the Baroque period, Suvorova’s exhibition Baroque Anarchist: Nor Dread Nor Hope Attend (from Yeat's 1929 poem Death) explores this interplay between art and science, using the garden as a central metaphor to explore similarities with the human body. Curated by Michael Wormack, founder of Felstead Art, this small exhibition on Gresham Street includes large, striking still-life paintings, most of which are oil on canvas. 

Baroque Anarchist, Thyroid Nest 2, 2023

Works like The Heartbeat (2023) and Thyroid Nest (2023) include flowers alongside detailed depictions of human anatomy, such as a heart and a pair of lungs. Most interestingly, these human organs are connected to the garden. The vibrant, pink heart seems to melt or bleed into the mostly white garden around it, and the lungs aren’t merely perched on a leaf or petal: instead, the veins and arteries are connected to the flower stems. 

These images suggest the deep, natural connection between nature and the human body, while also reminding us of the body’s fragility. Flowers are abundant in the paintings, and like them, we are subject to cycles that end in death. The inclusion of human anatomy not only highlights this connection, but it also evokes modern efforts to extend, or even eliminate, the limits of our biology through medicine. 

Baroque Anarchist, The Shell, 2024

Eternal life is an elusive concept that also has a connection to Biblical mythology. Perhaps the most famous garden of all, the Garden of Eden, was a promise of immortality in paradise. Vanitas, a genre of still-life painting that emphasizes the transience of life and the futility of pleasure, is the guiding style in Nor Dread Nor Hope Attend. Its philosophical roots lie in the Book of Ecclesiastes, which opens with the line ‘Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity.’  In Suvorova’s words, Biblical mythology “resonates strongly with contemporary stories of progress and decay, mortality and renewal.”

Vanitas emphasise the inevitability of death and is tied to the broader concept of memento mori, the Latin for “remember you will die.” It’s a shortened version of the words priests say when distributing ashes on Ash Wednesday: “Memento homo quia pulvis est et pulverem reverteris.” (“Remember, man, that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”)

Alexandra Suvorova, Ashes to Ashes (2020), Ashes to Ashes (2021)

Ashes to Ashes (2020), another work in Suvorova’s exhibition, has a title that echoes these words, depicting a worn rock sitting alone on a sidewalk. Similar to flowers, this rock serves as a reminder of our limited time, and how we all eventually return to the earth. While they’re commonly seen as symbols of durability and resilience, rocks are also subject to erosion. 

What’s paradoxical about Nor Dread Nor Hope Attend is the beauty of paintings that explore a morbid and frightening subject. Also, it’s interesting how finality is embraced through vivid images that depict life. In some paintings, you see animals such as birds, beetles, and dragonflies, as opposed to common symbols like skulls or hourglasses. This seems like a deliberate challenge to the common narrative about death; it reframes it as something natural, beautiful, and worth embracing. 

Suvorova’s paintings stun with their detail, but closer inspection is required to notice layered anatomical references and abstract allusions that are not immediately apparent. In combining art history and modern science, Suvorova’s art reimagines enduring themes like death and time, and it speaks to contemporary anxieties about the body and limits of human life. 

---

Joaquin Baerga is a sophomore studying journalism at Indiana University.