GREASE SPOTS
drawing series (coloured pencil on paper)
2014 - 2025

Liquid leaks, splashes, drips, and spills. Mostly unintentionally. It penetrates porous material, the fat content in it bonds with its new carrier, stubbornly sticking to and settling in it. As a result, the stain can hardly be separated from the substance it now permanently inhabits. How does a grease stain come about? Michhail Michailov turns the unintentional, the disruptive, even the undesirable into a subject. With colored pencils and a certain obsession, he draws in a meticulous process everything that is not usually supposed to be there and, especially in connection with art, must be avoided at all costs. Stains are the reason why white gloves are worn by all those who handle precious originals in museums and other (art) institutions. They are intended to prevent the body fat on the hands from coming into contact with the surfaces of the artworks, documents,
or rare artifacts.                      
                                                          (Gudrun Ratzinger and Franz Thalmair)