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«RUSSIAN BEAUTY»
Joint project by PRO ARTE Fund and Anna Nova Gallery at the premises of the former “Krasny Treugolnik” (Red Triangle) rubber plant
Address: Obvodny canal emb. 136, building 3 (Baltijskaya metro station)
Exhibition is open only until October 11, 2009!
Exhibition opening hours:
Saturdays-Sundays (September 26-27, October 3-4, 10-11): 12 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Wednesdays (September 30 and October 7) – at 4 p.m. curator gives a tour of the exhibition. To participate phone: (812) 233 00 40, 233 05 53 (PRO ARTE Fund)
 
Contemporary artist feels awkward speaking both of beauty and of national tradition. The art we label contemporary is ready to be impressive, repulsive, neutral or clever but never exquisite. Curators and art-critics are rather enthusiastic discussing the sublime, however in the times of Wim Delvoye, Oleg Kulik and Damien Hurst the category of beauty is hardly relevant.
We call contemporary national only when forced to by circumstances. E.g. when we need to arrange a pavilion for an international biennale – although one finds very little difference between artists representing various countries. Contemporary art is bound to uniformity. National features in MOMA, George Pompidou Center or in the exhibition rooms of the Marble Palace are only reflected in the uniforms worn by museum attendants. Of course, there is always space for artists who represent exotic cultures: be it an artist from Iran, Venezuela or Iceland. But this type of art rather turns its national values into anthropological material that attracts foreign audiences. Within their own cultures such art-projects often teeter on the brink of kitsch.
Since it seems inappropriate to speak both of national art tradition and of beauty as a category in the context of contemporary art, we can be sure that the exhibition dedicated to this controversial topic will show what the situation is really like. It will show the beauty we have today, after the post-modern skepticism, boredom experienced at art auctions and clumsy attempts to make ourselves believe in socialism once again.
The Project started as a part of an educational program for young artists run by PRO ARTE Fund; several artists later also joined the project. Curators set minimum limit – to avoid Sots-Art mockery and do not reduce everything to kitsch, although working with kitsch as rich but contagious material can prove rather fruitful. As for topics, genres and techniques, the artists were completely free to choose whatever they preferred to. The objective to create an individual image of Russian beauty with no figurative meaning and ready-made images was made even more difficult by the fact that the majority of artists came from St. Petersburg – a city as “typically Russian” as Vyborg or Kaliningrad. The participants were at risk of hitting a wrong note. However, couleur locale and keeping distance from international art-scene helped us to realize the beauty we still have in our part of Oecumene.
Curators of the Project: Gleb Ershov and Stanislav Savitsky. The exhibition presents works of more that 30 artists.
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2012 • [февраль]
Санкт-Петербург,
Петропавловская крепость,
Невская куртина,
левая сторона
(ППК)
[карта]
Телефоны:
(812) 233-0040,
(812) 233-0553,
Факс:
(812) 233-0040
e-mail:
office@proarte.ru
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