Drowned утонувшая

Grigory Gurevich, “DROWNED”, oil painting on plywood, 50”-30” painted in 2010 in United States, Jersey city.
This painting is based on real story of my life:
my mother rented room for the summer in Jalta, south of Russia, popular small village on the beach of Adriatic Sea, when my brother Misha was 5, or 6 years old and I was 15, or 16. I and my friend from Leningrad, who vent together with my mother, plus son of owner of the house, in which was our rented room, went to swim but decided to go far away from beach, full of people, deem water to a clear and transparent  waters, because we wanted to play “TAG” game.
Shortly after the beginning, I noticed far on the bottom under its, light spot, slightly looking, like the top view of human being. Looking carefully, I recognised some person, wearing blue cop on the head.
I immediately called my friends, so they too will assure me, that I was right.
Many swimming people are hunting in this area for fish, or see stars there with a water rifles, but we did not notice any movement there. I went immediately deeper and now could see girl in blue robber cup on her head in a half sitting position with bubbles of air streaming from her mouth! I gave a signal to my friends, that girl drowned and we need immediately bring her on surface and ask for help in order to save her life.
We had no time t waste!!!
I grabbed her under her arms and my friends supported her back. When we ruched the surface and were able to stand on the button ground, I took all her body in my arms and was able to walk towards the lying and taking suntan crowd.i screamed as loud as I could: “please help!!! This girl drowned and need immediate help!!!!!”I repeat it several times  and finally, someone pointed on medical tent, not far from me. I brought this girl to the tent, but newer could forget her mouth, full of air come, mixed with salted see water!
I passed her body to medical personal, they closed a door gate and I decided to stay there, at the gate and wait until I will know, what will happen next.
About one and the hour later, when someone opened the door, I could see her, being a live. It made me so happy, I was ready to go home and to go to sleep, but some guy was passing by and asked: what happened?
I told him shortly, that I with my friends saved life of young girl, who drowned here, but he looked at me and sarcastically gave me a sigh, that I made it up and he doesn’t believe me.
I ignored it completely, but for three days, I couldn’t look on the food. The image of girl s mouth, full of foam, was long time in my memory..
few days later, local Jalts’s  paper, was published short article about this accident and her story, that she arrived to Jalta with her grandmother by bus , they went on the beach, than she went tio swim and somehow drowned. Naturally, there was no name of us, who saved her life were mentioned.
When I already created my pantomimes, I was able to use her movements for the main character of my pantomime ”MAN AND THE SEA”, when main character is unable to get an air and how he drowning is exactly copied from a movement of this girl.
Many years later, in 2910, I painted this my art and it was exhibited in many galleries of United States.

DESCRIPTION:

MAN AND THE SEA

This poetic and symbolic pantomime begins with the profile of the woman sitting with her head upon blended knees. It becomes apparent as this woman unfolds her body in beautifully fluid movements that she is a personification of the sea. This image is strengthened by the music which suggests the gurgling and rippling sounds produced by water. Her rhythmic gestures, elegant, liquid and languorous, possesses. An early precision which evokes a sense of inhuman control. Her perfection suggests that she is an ideal of womanhood. She seduces us in to her world at the button of the ocean with the flow of a beguiling, mysterious charm. She is a sea nymph whose exquisite form fills us to forget that she is not a creature grounded in the earth but one who is at home in the deep, chilling atmosphere of a liquid not conductive  to language, breath or mortal life.
A man enters the nymph's domain, playfully sensing his weightlessness and the beauty which surrounds him. Attracted by her loveliness, he frolics and and responds to her efforts to engage him. So intense is his desire to love her that he forgets his mortal nature and his need to surface for air. He thrusts on to the moment of ecstasy they experience, to prolong the immersion of their union. The urge to become one in a sexual encounter is a call of the feminine for openness, compassion and worth which the nymph offers and which the man accepts at the cost of his life. Orgasm offers the ecstasy of dissolving boundaries and the climax of undiacribeable relieve. However intense, the experience of ecstasy is disappointingly fleeting and as soon as it is offered, one looks forward to the next encounter. Thus, the pursuit of the feminine is newer ending.
It seems until now that this is a tragedy of love between a man and nymph who are unable to be united permanently because of their essences. However, as the man since lifelessly to the ocean floor, the pantomime's symbolism is revealed, for a new swimmer enters the stage and as the nymph turns from her dead lover, she breeds her next victim. She is true to her feminine nature, ever ready to nourish, receive and inspire. In her naturalness, she seeks the fulfillment of her essence which is Union to the male partner. For the sea, a feminine symbol, can be understood  as the womb of life itself. As a symbol it encompasses the richness of ambivalence. The sea is a source of oxygen and the balance of the unending life cycle. In its negative aspect, it can represent the pull of the unconscious away from grounding in life.
These are some of the images that a symbol of the enveloping sea can portray. For a man who is also an artist, the meaning is more complex. The sea nymph can also symbolize the artist's muse who cannot be resisted no matter what the consequences in terms of an ordinary life with its emphasis on stability, material possessions or personal relationships. The artist who is true to a creative  process within his soul has no choice but to fallow the unconscious. What the artist gains is the fulfillment of his spirit through the beauty and love the nymph offers. What he often sacrifices to attain his vision is the comfort of the normal man's grounded existence. He shares the experience of his descent into unknown regions of his psyche, a place where many mortals fear to tread. And ultimately, if his talent is a combination of technique and imagination, he creates a symbols and then transforms the perception of the world we inhibit together.

Pantomime "MAN AND THE SEA" was staged by GRIGUR/Grigory Gurevich in Leningrad in 1966 in his pantomime company and played as well in Arkady Raykin Theatre in Soviet Union.
Authors of this text Grigory Gurevich and Demetria DeLia.
Written in English/transcribed by Demetria DeLia in 1982.
Copyright Grigory Gurevich, Demetria DeLia, 1982
Digital typing by Grigory Gurevich, Sankt Petersburg, August 31, 2016.



Grigory Gurevich, copyright, April 13, 2026, Jersey City, NJ.