News tagged:

London

  • Exhibition: ALEXANDER GRONSKY (The Wapping Project Bankside, London; 14 April – 29 May 2015)

    http://www.thewappingprojectbankside.com/exhibitions/current-exhibition/alexander-gronsky-2015

    The Wapping Project Bankside is pleased to announce Estonian photographer, Alexander Gronsky’s first exhibition with the gallery.

    Gronsky’s Pastoral series of large format photographs of Moscow’s suburban areas are reminiscent of the arcadian images created by 19th century landscape painters and reconstructs them in a way that jars with the romantic representations of a bygone era. Once defining borders becomes blurred in these photographs – the divisions between urban and pastoral, utopian and dystopian and the actors within these spaces are rendered ambiguous. Gronsky’s arresting use of colour and intelligent compositions are alluring, but these layered works are a study of how people inhabit a territory and what becomes evident in these images is the effect human life has on the environment in this Apothocene age.

    Included in the exhibition are three works from Gronsky’s Reconstruction series that documents reenactments of historic Russian battles whilst simultaneously rendering them anachronistic with the inclusion of onlookers into the frame, constructed as triptychs, these works are filmic in nature and alludes to a panoramic view of an important battle whilst titles such as “Siege of Leningrad” are reminiscent of a Hollywood film. Continuing Gronsky’s study of perspective, in these works it appears formal whilst the colouring offers a certain flatness to the photographs.

  • Exhibition: BORDERLANDS (Grad Gallery, London; March 20 — May 16, 2015)

    GRAD’s new exhibition ‘Borderlands’ seeks to challenge the line often drawn today between art and ​social comment, between aesthetics and activism. From a brick sculpture that recalls the recently redrawn map of the Ukraine to footage of young Moscovites filmed on a mobile phone, the display presents the work of contemporary Russian and Ukranian artists. We have invited artists working in different media to e​xplore​​​ ​whether art ​made today in their countries can be both politically engaged and have aesthetic value of its own. Zhanna Kadyrova (Kiev) and ZIP collective (Krasnodar) will build their installations on site​,​ while Nikita Shokhov ​(Moscow) ​and Evgeny Granilshchikov ​(Moscow) ​will present their photo and video works.

  • Exhibition: EXPLORING THE LEGACY OF WWII IN RUSSIAN ART (Saatchi Gallery, London; 13 March - 10 April 2015)

    http://www.filatovartfund.org/news/43

    London - Marking the 70th anniversary of the Victory in Europe, Art Russe will host the first UK exhibition dedicated to providing an insight into the portrayal of World War II and its legacy in Russian Art with works encompassing a variety of artistic styles and interpretations. The exhibition The Legacy of WWII in Russian Art this spring will showcase paintings and sculptures from Russia, juxtaposing them with graphic works created by Britain’s Ministry of Information during the Second World War. The aim is to stimulate a dialogue about the similarities between Russian and British experiences of World War II and examine the legacy war leaves for artists of all nationalities.

    The exhibition will feature paintings and sculptures, most of which have never before been on public display in the UK, including Laktionov’s Letter from the Front; Vera Mukhina’s sculpture Worker and Kolkhoz Woman, the Tkachev brothers’ By the Well; and Mai Danzig’s monumental canvas And the World Remembers the Saviours. The artworks fall into five groupings, revealing common themes for Russian artists of different generations.

    Andrey Filatov, founder of Art Russe, said: “For the people of Britain and Russia, the years of World War II were a period of great ordeal. The war affected everyone - those who were on the front lines and those who stayed at home. It was a period of suffering, self-sacrifice, and great acts of bravery of our nations. Over 26 million lives is the cost that the Soviet Union paid for the Great Victory. Almost every family in Russia has photographs of grandfathers and great grandfathers who did not come back from the battlefields, who gave their lives in the struggle to free Europe. The events of those years had a tremendous influence on art, and the theme of war was reflected in the works of several generations of Soviet artists. For Art Russe, it is a great honour to introduce an international audience to works depicting this tragic and heroic part of world history; works created by artists that are widely admired in Russia but mostly unknown in the West.”

    The Legacy of WWII in Russian Art is Art Russe’s second exhibition project in London. Last year, Art Russe initiated and supported the first UK retrospective of one of the main artists of the Severe Style, Viktor Popkov, at Somerset House.

    With this new exhibition, Art Russe aims to take the viewer on a journey that challenges the simplistic perception of Soviet Art as `propaganda art’. The easily readable, pictorial narratives of Socialist Realism were followed by works that demonstrate a great degree of self-knowledge, humanity and awareness. The exhibition will illustrate this evolution.

  • Exhibition: Akhmatova. Anrep. Berlin. (Pushkin House, London; 5 February - 29 April 2015)

    http://www.pushkinhouse.org/exhibitions/

    Curator: Elena Zaytseva

    A large tree has been felled and rebuilt, ‘growing’ up through the floors of Pushkin House, the independent home of Russian culture in London, in this site-specific installation by St Petersburg artist Vitaly Pushnitsky with video works by Olga Jurgenson.

    The exhibition, curated by Elena Zaytseva, considers the life and work of Anna Akhmatova, one of the greatest Russian poets of the 20th Century, and her relations with two great British-based Russian émigré contemporaries, the philosopher Isaiah Berlin and the artist Boris Anrep, creator of the mosaics at the National Gallery and Westminster Cathedral. It was commissioned by Pushkin House and the Anna Akhmatova Museum in St Petersburg and based on their archives.

    The exhibition is the start of a long-term series involving works by contemporary Russian artists which explore and rethink the archives of Russia memorial museums (‘house-museums’) dedicated to famous artists, writers and thinkers.

    It includes a full-size free-standing sculpture of a tree, ‘growing through’ the three exhibition rooms on three levels of the building; a false wall with photographs and two large video projections, and will dominate Pushkin House for almost three months. If all previous art exhibitions were arranged around the other events in the cultural programme, now, for three months, the Russian cultural life of Pushkin House will carry on around the installation, giving a new perspective on the communication of ideas about Russia in London, and linking the archives of Pushkin House with the museum archives.

  • Exhibition: East Street/West Street (Lollipop Gallery, London; 27 Feb – 22 March, 2015)

    http://www.lollipopgallery.com/shows/current-show
    East Street/West Street
    At Lollipop Gallery
    27 February – 22 March, 2015
    Co-curated with Monica Norse 78º

    Lollipop Gallery is pleased to present ‘East Street/West Street’ – a show which compares and contrasts the development of contemporary Street Art in Russia and America. This show is skewed toward the Russian side of things because we feel that contemporary Russian work is under-valued and under-represented in the West. The work of Misha Most, Aske, and Nootk certainly contains traces of the rich cultural heritage of Russia but it is also forward looking and endeavouring to forge a contemporary aesthetic informed by that past. As a representative of the US we felt compelled to include works from Shephard Fairey, not just because he is arguably the leading light in the US Street Art community, but also because his work relies heavily on the visual aesthetic of Russian propaganda posters to create a post-modern and politically engaged contemporary aesthetic.

    As a counterpoint to a largely figurative show we also included the abstract work of the American duo The Mirf (made up of Mint, who is of Russian descent, and Serf). For us, their work is an intense combination of traditional graffiti values and the expressionist painting tradition. In many ways we feel that it is natural for US graffiti to evolve into abstraction – a thesis we shall return to in a future show. When we look across this broad spectrum of visual production, we are struck by the fact that although the artists come from different countries that have often been on opposing sides of political and economic fences, there is a deep humanity in the work which transcends the many cultural differences and points to a better world. This spirit is fundamental to the Street Art movement, which relies so heavily on social media to communicate its message and to forge a global community of like-minded artists.

  • Public Talk: GRAD LAB: ARTIST’S TALK: ROMAN MININ (Grad Gallery, London; February 26, 2015)

    Free admission
    Thursday 26 February
    6.30pm - 7.30pm

    Roman Minin visiting from Kharkov, Ukraine will kick off a series of GRAD LAB events with a talk about his artistic practices. Minin has participated in many group exhibitions and festivals, organised the Street Art Fest in Kharkov and in 2009 received the Talent and Vocation medal from the worldwide alliance Peacemaker.

  • Exhibition: Adventures of the Black Square: Abstract Art and Society 1915 – 2015 (Whitechapel Gallery, London; 15 January – 6 April 2015)

    The press release can be found here

    A major new exhibition tracing a century of Abstract art from 1915 to today is on show at the Whitechapel Gallery from 15 January 2015.

    It brings together over 100 works by 100 modern masters and contemporary artists including Carl Andre, David Batchelor, Dan Flavin, Andrea Fraser, Piet Mondrian, Gabriel Orozco, Hélio Oiticica, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Rosemarie Trockel, Theo Van Doesburg and Andrea Zittel, taking over six exhibition spaces across the gallery.

    The exhibition takes a fresh look at this new art for a modern age, and asks how art relates to society and politics.

    Curated by Iwona Blazwick OBE, Director, and Magnus af Petersens, Curator at Large, Whitechapel Gallery, Adventures of the Black Square: Abstract Art and Society 1915 – 2015, (15 January – 6 April 2015), is international in its scope. As well as following the rise of Constructivist art from its revolutionary beginnings amongst the avant-garde in Russia and Europe, the exhibition sheds new light on the evolution of geometric abstraction from continents across the globe including Asia, the US and Latin America.

    The exhibition begins with one of Kazimir Malevich’s radical ‘black square’ paintings. Alongside Malevich’s Black and White. Suprematist Composition (1915), included in the famous exhibition The Last Futurist Exhibition of Paintings: 0.10 (1915) in Petrograd, now St Petersburg, prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917, these iconic works are the starting point for telling the story of Abstract art and its political potential over the next century.

    Arranged chronologically, the exhibition is divided into four key themes:

    • ‘Communication’ examines the possibilities of abstraction for mobilizing radical change

    • ‘Architectonics’ looks at how abstraction can underpin socially transformative spaces

    • ‘Utopia’ imagines a new, ideal society, which transcends hierarchy and class

    • ‘The Everyday’ follows the way abstract art filters into all aspects of visual culture, from corporate logos to textile design

    The exhibition includes paintings, sculptures, film and photographs spanning the century from 1915 to the present, brought together from major international collections including Archivo Lafuente, Spain; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona; Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago; Greek State Museum of Contemporary Art – Costakis Collection, Thessaloniki; National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh; Tate, London; and Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven.

    Further exhibition highlights include an entire wall filled with photographs documenting the radio towers of Moscow and Berlin by Aleksandr Rodchenko and László Moholy-Nagy amongst others, blow-up archive photographs of iconic exhibitions running through the history of abstraction and a selection of magazines which convey revolutionary ideas in art and society through typography and graphic design.