An exhibition of paintings, combining various styles of Soviet art from the 1970s, has opened in the Tretyakov Art Gallery Moscow. The display features unusual objects like mincing machines and old pipe wreckage.

What most people see as old and worthless things, basically trash, has inspired Andrey Grositsky for over thirty years, be it a weight, a rusty mechanism or a shapeless piece of metal. According to the artist, all these objects have a life of their own.

“These images of objects have accumulated the life energy of their owners, who are mostly dead by now. Some of the objects are also long gone, so the paintings are all that is left of them,” says the artist.

There is no excessive decoration in his works. Grositsky assumed the items made a statement of their own. Trying to show the real essence of an object, he emphasized its key features – texture, weight, volume, depth. Metal objects are the artist's favourite with a series of his works depicting locks and keys.

“I see a certain philosophical idea here. A key may be used to open a lock and to close it, so it is a kind of union of two beginnings,” adds Mr Grositsky.

The painter played an important part in the 1970s non-conformist art movement. He admits that Paul Cezanne and the cubists had a strong influence on his work.

Objects created nowadays are not inspiring enough for the artist, though. He says they lack character.