As a matter of fact, I have always tried to create “Sacred Spaces” – artistic compositions consisting of porcelain statuettes, postcards, toys, artificial flowers – and put them all over my flat so as to feel comfortable and safe. But when the virus started spreading around the world and they told us to stay at home, I became afraid and could do nothing. Then I decided to finish my Book on Art and when I was writing about my previous trips around Europe, I felt as if I was visiting those places once again. Or, even more, as if I had never left them. And after a while my mother asked me to create some illustrations for her new book. I hesitated at first since I am a Musician and not a Painter. And yet, it was so exciting that I ended up writing Poetry so as to make it easier for children to learn Musical Language. It was fun and these “jobs” helped me to overcome stress. Interestingly enough, I did not use dark colors in my paintings, on the contrary, I chose yellow, blue, red, green and pink.

Suddenly I realized that My Mission in life is to Explore the Beauty of the World and Share my Knowledge with People. I do believe that Art as a whole and This Very Book in particular could help you to overcome pain and darkness and Transform your Soul. All in all, Life is nothing but a Dream and like Zhuangzi who “didn’t know if he was Zhuangzi who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuangzi” you might never find final solution to this problem.

I have been studying the connection between different branches of Art for a long time and was delighted to know that there is a significant basis for my research. That is to say, the carbon, nitrogen and oxygen atoms in our bodies, as well as atoms of all other heavy elements, were created in previous generations of stars over 4.5 billion years ago. This idea that We are all Made of the Same Staff as Stars took me by surprise. So, we all have the same birthday – the Beginning of the Universe.

Interestingly enough, the Earth is a Closed System and it must obey the Second Law of Thermodynamics according to which the Universe has a consistent amount of energy, and when some energy is lost in any operation, it ultimately leads to the Rise of Entropy and the inevitable Heat Death of Matter in the Universe. It implies that the Universe is destined to get simpler and simpler, even though its “pockets” still enjoy concentrations of energy, energy flow, and therefore complexity. On the other hand, there are a lot of Open Systems on Earth to which this Law cannot be applied and Art, being one of them, interacts with the environment and conveys Great Ideas of Humanity in Sound, Color, Shape, etc. Different branches of Art (Music, Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, etc.) are in constant Dialog with each other and, from time to time, they Unite their forces (Opera, Ballet, Happening, Installation, etc.) so as to make it easier for us to appreciate the Beauty of the World. And yet, we may never understand what is a Piece of Art-in-itself since all we know is the way in which Art appears For-Us in different interpretations.

According to the Big History Project, there are Eight Main Thresholds – major phase-shifts leading to the beginning of the Universe, the First Stars, new Chemical Elements, the origin of Planets and the Solar System, the Beginning of Life, the Evolution of Collective Learning, the Emergence of Agriculture, and the Beginning of the Modern Revolution. In this book we are going to scrutinize the way in which Philosophical Ideas have been expressed in Art from Antiquity to the Present Day. If the predictions are true and life on Earth will be destroyed, all we can do is try to postpone this event by developing new technologies enabling us to travel through the Universe and find another planet on which we could live and Create New Art.

Many years ago one of my College Professors recommended me to read a book about Alexander Scriabin. And from that time on, Scriabin’s creativity has captured my imagination. It goes without saying that Alexander Scriabin is one of the most Mysterious Figures of the 20th century. Not only did he compose Music, but he also wanted to Transform the World by using the Power of Art. In other words, he believed that the Performance of his “Mysterium” comprised of different branches of Art could cause Dematerialization and Rebirth of Humanity.

Alexander Scriabin was an extremely versatile person and his Literary and Philosophical works correspond to his Music. The Early period of his creativity (up to 1900) has very much in common with Romantic tradition and then (from 1900 till 1910) the Center of his Aesthetic interests starts shifting towards the Personality of the Artist who is able to Bring Beauty to the World. This “reorientation” triggered radical changes in his Musical Style, namely Functional Inversion, the Emancipation of the Dissonance and the Compression of the Form. During the Late period of his creativity (from 1910 till 1915) Scriabin was fully occupied with the Realization of his Project and most of his last works could be viewed as “splinters” of the Ideal Piece of Art – the “Mysterium”. “Prometheus: The Poem of Fire” is a fine example of the expression of the Idea of the Total Unity since here Music is complemented by the Color Organ Part (Luce) whereas Melody is derived from Harmony and vice versa (“Prometheus Chord”). Interestingly enough, during the last years of his life his Musical Language was changing towards Simplicity and it seems to me that the so-called “Style of Black Line on White Background” (Prelude op. 74 No. 2) fully expresses Scriabin’s Passion for Unity and Beauty.

In this Book the idea of which appeared when I was writing my previous monograph on the creativity of Alexander Scriabin I am going to scrutinize the way in which different Philosophical Ideas have been conveyed in Art. That is to say, we are going to Travel throughout the Whole History of Humanity and I hope that at the end of our Journey we will know more not only about Art, but also about ourselves.

As a matter of fact, I have always wanted to travel around the world, explore cultural diversity. In particular, I have read a lot about Wonders of Italy; hence, it is no surprise that my first destination was Rome. Actually, it was my mother who forced me to go there, metaphorically speaking. So, there I was, flying to Italy on my own. The truth is that, being proud of myself, at the same time I was trembling and thinking – Is it worth it?