White Space Gallery Collection Catalogue

wasEverything forever, nountil more it was WHITE SPACE GALLERY COLLECTION CATALOGUE EVERYTHING WAS FOREVER, CONTENTS UNTIL IT WAS NO MORE White Space Gallery Collection Catalogue Introduction by Dorota Michalska 5 Catalogue and price list 36 © White Space Gallery, 2019 Published in 2019 by White Space Gallery, London UK Non-conformism 9 Yuri Albert 36 [email protected] Ilya Kabakov 9 Tatiana Antoshina 36 www.whitespacegallery.co.uk Mikhail Grobman 9 Yuri Avvakumov 37 Leonid Borisov 38 Introduction by Dorota Michalska Leonid Borisov 9 Antanas Sutkus 10 Vita Buivid 40 Alexander Florenski 40 All images © the artists Moscow Conceptualism 12 Olga Florenski 41 Yuri Albert 12 Images of Timur Novikov’s works: Courtesy of the artist’s Gluklya 42 family collection, St Petersburg, unless otherwise stated. Dmitry Prigov 12 Mihail Grobman 43 Underground Cinema and Alternative Music 15 Book design: mikestonelake.com Ilya Kabakov 43 Andrey Tarkovsky 15 Andrei Krisanov 43 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be Sergei Parajanov 15 Dmitri Konradt 44 reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any Yuri Mechitov 16 Oleg Kotelnikov 45 form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, Vladimir Tarasov 17 recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission in Oleg Kotelnikov & Andrey Medvedev 45 writing of White Space Gallery. Dmitry Konradt 18 Oleg Kulik 46 Perestroika and the Post-Soviet period 21 Stas Makarov 46 Timur Novikov 21 Yuri Mechitov 47 Oleg Kotelnikov 21 Lera Nibiru 48 Ivan Sotnikov 22 Timur Novikov 49 Andrei Krisanov 22 Sergei Parajanov 51 New Artists and Necrorealists 24 Dmitri Prigov 52 Evgeny Yufit 24 Dmitri Shagin 53 Vladimir Shagin 53 Paper Architecture 25 Vladimir Shinkarev 53 Yuri Avvakumov 25 Ivan Sotnikov 54 Mitki 27 Antanas Sutkus 55 Dmitri Shagin 27 Andrei Tarkovski 56 Vladimir Shinkarev 27 Vladimir Tarasov 57 Alexander Florensky 28 Olga Tobreluts 58 Olga Florensky 29 Evgeny Yufit 59 Performance Art 30 Oleg Kulik 30 Women artists 31 Tatiana Antoshina 31 Vita Buivid 31 Gluklya 32 Lera Nibiru 33 New Academy 34 Olga Tobreluts 34 Stas Makarov 35 Mikhail Rozanov 35 Olga Tobreluts. Prisoner of the Caucases. 2009 INTRODUCTION To write about Russian contemporary art from the last decades inexorably means to enter into a multilayered landscape of momentous historical shifts which have fundamentally shaped our understanding of both the XX and the XXI century. The catalogue’s title – Everything Was Forever, Until it Was No More – is borrowed from Russian scholar Alexei Yurchak’s book of the same name. Yurchak discusses the nature of change within the context of Russian history which often saw the collapse of entities which appeared at the time eternal, such as the Soviet Union and Communism. Art can constitute an entry path into accessing and understanding this complex historical panorama as well as offering insights into such concepts as shifting identities, individual and collective memory and the multiple entanglements between the private and the public. Several artists present in the catalogue – such as Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Dmitry Prigov, Yuri Albert and Leonid Borisov – are connected to the Moscow Conceptualist movement which began in the early 70s and continued as a trend in Russian art in the 80s. Ilya and Emilia Kabakov’s installation and drawings– which explore the issues of language, communication and the construction of meaning – are nowadays unanimously regarded as crucial reflections on the Soviet and Post-Soviet identity. Their works embody an attitude of detachment and irony while at the same time demonstrating a deep belief in the power of art. Dmitry Prigov ‘s works – drawings, installations, books and poems – explore the concept of “nothingness” which seem to underpin and indeed often undermine society and material reality. His artistic practice has recently gained new visibility thanks to the recent conferences, exhibitions and displays organized by the Hermitage Museum, Centre Pompidou, Courtauld institute and Calvert 22. The perestroika period (1985-1991) saw a shift in the Russian artistic landscape with the emergence of St. Petersburg as the center of a new wave in contemporary art. Several of those initiatives were centered around the charismatic figure of artist Timur Novikov and funder of the New Artists group in 1982. The group – which included among others Oleg Kotelnikov, Ivan Sotnikov and Evgeny Yufit (also funder of the “Necrorealism” movement) – had a highly interdisciplinary approach to art which spanned performance, film, theatre, music, design and fashion. They were also deeply involved in the rock and techno music scene in St Petersburg collaborating with the experimental orchestra Popular 4 EVERYTHING WAS FOREVER, UNTIL IT WAS NO MORE WHITE SPACE GALLERY 5 Mechanics for whom they created costumes and backdrop. Indeed, music played a crucial part in shaping the Russian art of the 70s and 80s as in the case of composer, drummer and visual artist Vladimir Tarasov based in Vilnius whose sound installations are often a reflection on the relationships between music, landscape, improvisation and individual memory. Also hailing from Lithuania is photographer Antanas Sutkus whose humanistic approach to art comes to the fore in his portraits of common people, both young and old. The catalogue also features visual works by two world famous film directors: Andrey Tarkovsky and Sergei Parajanov. Tarkovsky’s series of polaroids – taken during his stay in Italy in the 80s – seem to uncannily resemble Romantic painting from the XIX century. Accordingly to art scholar Boris Groys, the polaroids embody a sense of nostalgia after a reality unspoiled by capitalism or industrial advancement. Parajanov’s colleges – which the artist describes as “compressed films” – were created during his imprisonment by the Soviet authorities and fully embody Parajanov’s baroque imagination. Since the 90s Russian art – both historical and contemporary – has increasingly gained visibility in Western museums and art institutions. Several artists in the catalogue have been present at Venice Biennale (Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Yuri Avvakumov, Tatiana Anthoshina, Vladimir Tarasov, Gluklya) while others have their works in some of the most important international art collections such as the ones at the Centre Georges Pompidou (Timur Novikov, Oleg Kotelnikov, Ivan Sotnikov, Evgeny Yufit). Recently, a consistent interest in Russian art has resulted in two important exhibitions: Ilya and Emilia’s Kabakov solo show ‘Not Everyone Will Be Taken Into The Future’ (Tate Modern, 2017/18) and the exhibition ‘Kollektsia! Contemporary Art in the USRR and in Russia, 1950-2000 at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, 2016. Those initiatives clearly demonstrate that contemporary Russian art is still a fertile ground for research and acquisitions by both private and public collectors. Dorota Michalska 6 EVERYTHING WAS FOREVER, UNTIL IT WAS NO MORE WHITE SPACE GALLERY 7 1 2 NON CONFORMISM Ilya Kabakov (born Dnepropetrovsk, Soviet Union, 1933). He studied at the VA Surikov Art Academy in Moscow, and began his career as a children’s book illustrator during the 1950’s. He was part of a group of Conceptual artists in Moscow who worked outside the official Soviet art system. In 1985 he received his first solo show exhibition at Dina Vierny Gallery, Paris, and he moved to the West two years later taking up a six-month residency at Kunstverein Graz, Austria. In 1988, Kabakov began working with his future wife Emilia (they were to be married in 1992). From this point onwards all their work was collaborative, in different proportions according to the specific project involved. Today Kabakov is recognized as one of the most important Russian artists to have emerged in the late twentieth century. His installations speak as much about conditions post-Stalinist Russia as they do about the human condition universally. His retrospective ‘Not Everyone Will Be Taken Into The Future’ was at Tate Modern in 2017/18 and now in Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow until January 2019. Art Museum, Bochum, Germany, 1988; The State Russian Museum, 1999; MOMA, Moscow, 2014. His Mikhail Grobman (b. 1939, Moscow) lives and works are in the collections of ART4RU Museum, works in Tel Aviv. Grobman has written poetry, Moscow; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Ludwig essays, and children’s books since the 1950s. A Museum, Cologne; Art Museum, Bochum; Museum few years later he began painting and joined of Modern Art, Bochum; Museum am Ostwall, the Lianozovo group and took part in Samizdat Dortmund; Museum of Modern Art, Utrecht; Tel movement. Since the 1960s he was a member of Aviv Museum of Art; The Pushkin State Museum The Second Avant-garde. In 1971 he emigrated of Fine Arts, Moscow; The State Russian Museum, from the USSR to Israel and started publishing St. Petersburg; Art4Ru Museum; The State the magazine and founded Leviathan art group. Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. The use of text is very important in Grobman’s art, he writes minimalist poems and ‘visual verses’ Leonid Borisov (1943 – 2013, St Petersburg, consisting of magazine headings, and transforms Russia) employs a decidedly abstract and 1. Ilya Kabakov. Row. 1969-1989 old book covers into poetic texts. He has had solo “Minimalist” understanding of space and visuality, 2. Mikhail Grobman. Generalissimo. 1964-1989 exhibitions at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 1971; and utilises found photography to create collages 8 EVERYTHING WAS FOREVER, UNTIL IT WAS NO MORE WHITE SPACE GALLERY 9 1 2 Selected exhibitions:

Load more