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RUSSIA MIAMI 2007, an exhibition of contemporary Russian
art and culture, will be on view in the Collins Building, 39 NE
39th Street, in the Miami Design District, from December 3-10,
2007. The exhibition is curated by Julie Sylvester, Associate
Curator of Contemporary Art at the State Hermitage Museum, St.
Petersburg, organized by RIGroup, in cooperation with
HUGO BOSS, and
supported by DACRA
Development. The exhibition will be open daily from 12
noon-9 pm. “RUSSIA Miami 2007 is inspired by the artists and the galleries
who formed the foundation for contemporary art in Russia, “ said
Julie Sylvester. “The exhibition will include works by the major
players on the contemporary scene in Moscow and St. Petersburg as
well as works by younger artists and artists whose works may have
remained relatively unknown in the new rush to the art market. The
art selected for the exhibition is a purely Russian art, art made
in the post Soviet era, influenced by a rapidly changing society,
and in some cases, not represented by galleries.” “The RIGroup is committed to the ongoing support of a cultural
exchange between Russia and the United States in order to help
foster tolerance and understanding,” said RIGroup CEO Janna
Bullock. “Russia Miami 2007 is ?ur second venture in Miami. Next
summer we will present an exhibition of the finalists of the
“Kandinsky Prize” for contemporary Russian Art in New York. In
addition, we are planning exhibitions of contemporary American
artists in M?scow.” Aidan Salakhova c-founded the First Gallery in Moscow in 1989,
the very first gallery committed to cntemporary art in Russia. She
is also an artist and will present a new installation work. Gennady
Ustyugov was born in 1938 and although his earlier work is
represented in Russian museums, he lives in relative obscurity in
St. Petersburg. His collages which are autobiographical in nature
and are made from spare househ?ld materials on old cardboard, may
bring to mind works by Paul Mc Carthy, although he has surely never
seen a western art magazine. Sergey Bugaev Africa is well known to
the international art world, but a major installation of his work
of recycled objects of the Soviet era has nt been viewed outside of
Europe. We will bring a large new work that incorporates early 20th
century hand painted sleighs. Oleg Golosiy (1965-1993) was a
prolific painter who died before the age of 30, and his work is
certainly unknown outside of Russia. As well, there are early works
by Timur Novikov (1958-2002) including one early landscape
painting, which may be a surprise to those familiar with his fabric
works. Petr Denisenko began making art in mental hospitals where he
was frequently treated in Soviet times for "cmmercial syndrome".
His contribution is a robust, manic collection of drawings which
have been made over the past few years in N Drawing No Cry,
Martin Kippenberger's book of empty hotel stationery. The artists,
therefore, are a varied lot and hail from different parts of vast
Russia. Images of contemporary Russian life form an odyssey through
the exhibition in a new series of photographs made by Sergey
Bratkov. Other artists in the exhibition are Nikolay Bakharev,
Dmitry Bulnygin, Vladimir Dubosarsky & Alexander Vinogradov,
Georgy Gurianov, Dmitry Gutov, Sergey Shekhovtsov (Porolon),
Natasha Struchova, and Vasiliy Tsagal?v . Mscow based designer Denis Simachev has been invited to
participate and will create new designs and products for RUSSIA
Miami 2007. The 176 page catalogue, edited by Julie Sylvester,
available at the exhibition, will richly represent the artists’
works and will include portraits and biographies. A short story,
The Life and Adventures of Shed Number XII, by the acclaimed
author Victor Pelevin is the text for the catalogue. Many of the artists will be in Miami for the exhibition. We
expect to have the exhibition become a meeting place, a
Treffpunkt, point de recontre, for our visitors. We will
make full use of the plaza area in front of the Collins Building,
where we will always have water for our friends, contemporary
Russian magazines, catalogues, and good conversation.
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