In the second half of the 20th century and the early 21st century, one of the most notable features of sculptural art was the blurring of conventional genre boundaries. In addition to the traditional genre of portrait, other themes began to appear in sculptural compositions. Before that, scenes of landscape, the environment, the interior, and still life had been reserved for paintings and graphics. This creative innovation is reflected in Alexander Burganov’s “Figure in the Interior”. The sculptor produced a portrait of his daughter that captures not only her likeness but also the space and time. She is depicted the moment she is leaving the room.

The interior is not depicted on a flat relief plane. It is three-dimensional and active. The sculptor emphasizes its importance for the composition by including the word “interior” in the title.

It is even more challenging to capture time in sculpture. The artist chose to show two figures: a smaller one in the background is just getting ready to take a step, while a larger one in the foreground is already leaving the room. This eternal movement through space and time is one of the main features of this composition.

This work was an experiment for Alexander Burganov. Every painter or sculptor has works that have been crucial to the development of their style, creative framework, functional and ideological solutions. It is a search for a new approach to creating sculptural artworks.

The image of a figure and its surroundings is characteristic of another form of art — painting. In this medium, the environment plays a central role in the relationship between space and the object. The task of organizing the environment is largely influenced by the artist’s interests, preferences, views on art, and the meaning and content of a particular artwork.

The sculpture is composed of two parts. One part is a female figure in a long dress, with the arms hanging at the sides, installed on a tall metal leg. The other one is a metal structure that forms a truncated pyramid frame, with a smaller bronze figure of a woman standing at an open door.

The artist sought to design not only a figure but also an atmosphere around it, which is reflected in the sculpture’s name. The structures create a sense of space. The figure appears static and calm as if seen in the perspective of a room or reflected in a mirror.