Vol'nov I.N. Kuznetsov icon painting a big semantic shift

Abstract: The subject of the research is a semantic field of culture, as well as transient and qualitative changes observed in it. A modern global crisis is interpreted as the consequence of implementation of the idea of narrowing of a semantic field of culture. Multiple cultural phenomena of the last century indicate a change of a tendency and a turn to the expansion of a semantic field. The transitional process that has already begun is viewed by the author as a big semantic shift – an utmost shift towards infinite number of meanings. As an example of this semantic infinity a new technique of canonical Orthodox iconography – Kuznetsov icon painting – is given. The special feature of this technique is the exclusive use of an ornament and a colour dots. The author considers Kuznetsov icon painting as the end of the searching of non-figurativeness in visual art that has begun in neoimpressionism and Russian avant-garde, the supplementation of non-figurativeness of forms with the non-figurativeness of colour. The method of comparative analysis of different cultural phenomena in their projections on the semantic field of culture and the method of analogies were used in the research. The novelty of the study is in the interpretation of the phenomena of modern culture and in particular Kuznetsov icon painting as visual embodiment of semantic vacuum – environment with infinite number of meanings. The main conclusion of the study is the indication of the transitional process in the semantic field of culture as an utmost shift towards infinite number of meanings – a large semantic shift. The cultural and anthropological crises receive new hope for their solution being viewed from a large semantic shift perspective.

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