Since long ago Shablavin conducts a professional research in the field of optics. In this sense, the circle is a symbol of an eye or of a lens, or of a magnifying glass. As the artist told, the round picture allows to gain “the convex space”, “the crater”. The painting "Crossing of times" is typical for Shablavin's manner. A big circle is placed on a light abstract background as an original lens allowing to distinguish contours of a river valley that is seen probably from a great height. In the center of the circle, one can see a more readable fragment of landscape that is focused by another small diameter lens. Different degrees of sharpness of the image points onto several optical levels inside the space of the picture, thus, perhaps several temporal modes, as indicated in the very title of the work. This is one of Sergey Shablavin’s most interesting works, very «pure» in its form and concept, a kind of Shablavin's "absolut".

Katerina Zaitseva, Olga Danilkina