Stark imagery from the cradle to the depraved Artist Tatiana Arzamasova from Russian art collective AES+F with works at Anna Schwartz gallery, Eveleigh. Picture: Phil Blatch Source: The Daily Telegraph ADULT villainy is bad enough. But how much more sinister is cunning and depravity when embodied by an over-sized baby? This comes to mind in the presence of the seven shiny black infants with devils' tails which were placed in their new "play pen" at Anna Schwartz Gallery in Carriageworks this week. The fibreglass sculptures are by the famous Russian artistic collective AES+F, and make up the exhibition Angels-Demons which opens today. AES+F's slick film production, The Feast of Trimalchio, was projected on to a 360-degree screen in an old building on Cockatoo Island during the Biennale of Sydney in 2010. They focus their highly finished artworks - at least in part - on the delusional state of humankind and its unquestioning surrender to capitalism and consumerism. Tatiana Arzamasova is the A in AES+F. The other letters are Lev Evzovich (Arzamasova's husband), Evgeny Svyatsky and Vladimir Fridkes.Arzamasova says the babies hint at possible global futures. Their devils' tails foreshadow coming darkness and disaster, while their nascent wings could symbolise either vampires or angels. Which direction the babies take will depend on how they grow up. Is AES+F standing by to watch which way the world eventually goes? "Like everybody," Arzamasova shrugs. Angels and demons are a centuries-old staple of religious art, and are therefore of interest to AES+F, which often mines the history of art for inspiration. An angel-demon appeared in the group's recent video work called Allegoria Sacra, a work which has strong ties to Australia. Allegoria Sacra was inspired by and named after a painting by the Renaissance master Giovanni Bellini, which is believed to represent purgatory. With typical wit and irony, AES+F located modern purgatory in an international airport - a place where strangers wait and time is suspended. Nick Mitzevich, director of the Art Gallery of South Australia who has visited AES+F's Moscow studio, confesses he is "obsessed" by the group. Mitzevich committed the AGSA to buying Allegoria Sacra when it was only half finished, which enabled the artists to go ahead and complete it. Allegoria Sacra premiered last year on a 30m screen on the front of the AGSA and is still on view in the gallery. Mitzevich says AES+F are a fascinating contradiction: "They studied, taught and lectured in architecture and art and photography within the communist regime, and now they make some of the most compelling work that critiques our life in capitalist society." Twitter: @Ozartwriter Anna Schwartz Gallery, Carriageworks, 245 Wilson St, Darlington; until April 13, 8580 7002, annaschwartzgallery.com