Imaginary space: geopoetics of northern territories

The study deals with the semantic and cognitive analysis of landscape thinking of famous northern artists A. Osipov and Yu. Spiridonov which presents imaginary space associated with the northern territories. Both artists focus on the image of the Arctic Yakutia reflecting their unique vision of the spirit of time, space, movement, and development. From the standpoint of the author’s landscape, A. Osipov and Yu. Spiridonov are genius at representing the images of ordinary workers. At the same time, natural landscapes, mountains, tundra, impassable forests, and fast-flowing rivers are the structural ontological element of geopoetical space. The author’s landscapes are considered as original models of imagination that help realize the space on the basis of deep archetypal images. The research strategy and objectives include the interpretation of the author’s vision of images and symbols being the ground for the historical chronotope demonstrating space transformations. The consideration of landscape thinking in the works of the famous Yakut artists allows one to highlight the original ideological framework serving as the basis for the mythological, ethnic, symbolic, and linguistic images of spaces. In addition, it is possible to examine the mechanism of comprehending and mastering space and time and identify the key archetype images typical for each ethnic local group of peoples in Yakutia from the geopoetical perspective.