Born in Moscow in 1971.

Daria Krotova was educated as a psychologist and art historian while studying at universities in Russia, America and France.  For several years she was engaged in translations into Russian of French poetry and philosophy (Francis Ponge, Maurice Blanchot, Gilles Deleuze, etc. Published in Moscow).

The first upsurge of her artistic career in contemporary art began in the late 2000s with the exhibition “Invasion /Évasion” of the Maria Baibakova Foundation at Krasny Oktyabr, where her first large installations were presented with the use of ceramics, which the artist considers as a universal medium for works of any format. From this period she began to actively participate in the activities of the creative association VGLAZ, founded by Gosha Ostretsov, as well as with leading Moscow galleries: Iragui Gallery, Crokin Gallery, and later with Heritage Gallery.

In her works, which are often large format in-situ installations, Daria works in various media (ceramics, wood, textiles, ready made) but is known for her large format works in paper, for which the artist has invented her own unique technique. In 2014 and 2016 her huge installations in this technique were shown at the Winzavod CSI, and in 2018 at the Fabrika CSI. 

Since 2008, Daria's artistic career has included participation in more than 70 exhibitions in Russia and abroad, including 20 solo exhibitions, as well as regular participation in international fairs and biennales of contemporary art (Art Pris, Vienna Contemporary, Tbilissi Art fair, Art Vilnius, Lucca biennale Cartasia etc).  

From 2014 to 2019 Daria devoted her time to working at the Tretyakov Gallery, where in addition to teaching sculpture, she curated exhibitions and developed inclusion at the museum.  

Since 2019, the artist has returned to active creative work, still favoring ceramic sculpture, multimedia installations and land art. Since 2019, working extensively in the South of France, Daria has been creating a number of major land art projects, and including the installation Waiting to Return, 2024, dedicated to Ilya Kabakov.

In 2024, Daria's work participates in the historic Biennale of Contemporary Ceramic Art in Valoris. Since 2024 Daria started experimenting with different printmaking techniques, linocut, lithography, silkscreen. The series “Memes” (fabric, image transfer paper, printing, hand embroidery) was made for the exhibition Renaissance, curated by Gosha Ostretsov. Daria works with the idea of visual profanations, distortions and layering that images of classical painting are subjected to in social media and masmedia.

The series of works entitled “Circles on the Asphalt”, presented at the exhibition of the same name in the a—s—t—r—a gallery, is made in the workshops of the Center for Art Production “Vaults” of the House of Culture “HPP-2”. 

In 2025, exhibitions featuring works by Daria Krotova will be held at the Villa Datris Foundation for Contemporary Sculpture, the Chateau Seviere Museum in Marseille, the See Gallery in Paris, and the Albatros Art Center in Paris. Collaboration is planned with the Lazarev Gallery in Paris and the Yvon Lambert Foundation in Avignon. 

Born in 1974.

Sculptor, architect, member of the Russian Academy of Arts.

In 1999 he graduated from the Faculty of Sculpture (workshop of academician L. Kerbel) Moscow State Academy of Arts named after Surikov.
Since 2014, member of the Presidium of the RAKh (Russian Academy of Arts).

Aleksey Morozov began his artistic career in the early 1990s, taking part in the Second Biennial of Contemporary Art in St. Petersburg, where he won one of the Grand Prix of the exhibition. After graduating from the institute, he spent a year in Provence in 1998, where he studied French sculpture from the 16th-18th centuries and practiced working with terracotta. 

After his return to Russia, Morozov collaborated for a long time with the founder of the New Academy of Fine Arts, and was a member of the New Serious creative movement, a conservative wing of Neo-Academism. He has held solo exhibitions in St. Petersburg, Moscow and Italy and has participated in international art fairs.

In December 2011 - January 2012, the Marble Palace of the Russian Museum hosted a large solo exhibition of Morozov, entitled Antologia, where the artist presented about 60 works created in the previous 10 years. 

In July 2013, Alexey Morozov was appointed director of the Moscow State Academic Art School in Memory of 1905. Under his leadership, the reconstruction and renovation of the school began, a new sculpture department was opened, an anatomy department was created to train specialists in plastic anatomy, and Italian internship programs for students were introduced. 

He lives and works in Lucca (Italy).

Alexey Morozov's works are sold at Sotheby's, Christie's and Phillips auctions and are in private and museum collections, such as the State Russian Museum, the Museum of the New Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, etc.

"Alexey Morozov is the author of the project PONTIFEX_MAXIMVS, shown at the 6th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art in 2015. The idea for the project refers back to Raphael's Stanzas of the Vatican, where the master introduced the image of caryatids coming to life, and the frescoes of each room were united by a common plot or character. Animate sculpture is one of the fundamental themes of Alexey Morozov. Throughout his artistic career, Morozov consistently creates a huge art universality, reinterpreting the Greco-Roman classical heritage in the context of modernity. In the artist's opinion, the possibilities of the plastic language of Greek and Roman sculpture, which for so many centuries continued to nourish European civilization, are far from exhausted and can still serve as the basis for creating works with a keenly relevant authorial message. The title PONTIFEX_MAXIMVS - that is, "the great bridge-builder" (from the Latin term pons facere, understood in the esoteric practices of the Romans) verbalizes the idea of restoring the links between antiquity and modernity, the East and the West.

Morozov uses classical iconography, but removes its historical meanings and connotations, giving ideal forms the provocative content of modernity. This is also reflected in the choice of materials: the "classical" ones of bronze and marble, as well as concrete and carbon fiber. The bronze sculptures are made in Pietrasanta, Italy, using techniques based on the ancient tradition of hand craftsmanship. Amidst the kaleidoscope of shifting ethical, moral and aesthetic guidelines of today's world, classical culture and iconography proves to be an important point of reference. In his sculpture, graphics and video, Morozov uses the orderly structure of ancient art to analyze and transcend the chaos of the world. His narrative is transported into a post-apocalyptic, desolate, militaristic space, but offers no unambiguous interpretations or interpretations."

SELECTED EXHIBITION PROJECTS:

• 2024 — Cosmoscow, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2024 — EXODUS, Pisa, Italy
• 2024 — St. Petersburg Art Fair “1703”, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Manezh, St. Petersburg, Russia
• 2024 — “Antiquity. Coordinate System”, Zaryadye Media Center, Moscow, Russia
• 2024 — “You are here. Always. Today. The Day After Tomorrow”, Museum of Transport of Moscow, Pavilion 26 ‘Transport of the USSR’, VDNKh, Moscow, Russia
• 2024 — Fair |catalog| April, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2023 — Fair |catalog| December, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2023 — Cosmoscow, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2023 — St. Petersburg Art Fair “1703”, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Manezh, St. Petersburg, Russia
• 2022 — "Art Gardens. Metamorphosis", Arkhangelskoye Estate Museum, Moscow 
• 2017 — "PONTIFEX_MAXIMVS/ le stanze", Alexey Morozov Art Project. MMOMA, Moscow
• 2016 — "PONTIFEX_MAXIMVS", Alexey Morozov Art Project. Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, Naples
• 2015 г. "ANTROPOMAHIA," art project by Alexey Morozov. Istanbul Contemporary, Istanbul
• 2015 — "PONTIFEX_MAXIMVS_preview", Alexey Morozov art project. 6th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art. VDNKh, Moscow
• 2015 — "Antropomakhia", Alexey Morozov's art project. Cosmoscow, Moscow
• 2015 — "Cantata_iTunes", Alexey Morozov's art project. Homofarber, CAV, Pietrasanta, Italy
• 2014 — "MOROSOV_MMXIV", Heritage Gallery, Moscow
• 2013 — "ART-STAGE" 11.12 Gallery, Singapore 
• 2013 — "KARIATIDA SUPERSONICS" M&O, Paris 
• 2013 — "KARIATIDA SUPERSONIKA" Piazza Bra, Verona
• 2012 — "SERENITAS" Art Moscow. Sculpture by Alexey Morozov from private collections, Moscow
• 2011-2012 — "ANTOLOGY" The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
• 2010 — "BASILICA" Art Moscow. Triumph Gallery, Moscow
• 2009 — "PRAETORIA X" Art Moscow. Triumph Gallery, Moscow
• 2007 — "MOROZOV MANUFAKTURING" Moscow World Fair of Fine Arts. Manege, Moscow
• 2006 — "ERIHO" Moscow World Art Fair. Manege, Moscow
• 2004 — "CONSTANTINOPOLIS" ARTPLAY, Moscow
• 2003 — "Kraft Deco Classics" Gallery D137, Saint Petersburg
• 2003 — "Kraft Deco Akademik" Novaya Akademia, Saint Petersburg
• 2002 — "MAGOS", Vicenza, Italy.
• 2000 — "MITRA SUPER" together with New Academy. Manege, Moscow.
• 1992 — "II Biennial of Contemporary Art" Okhtinsky Exhibition Hall of Artists Union of St.Petersburg.

"...Alexey Morozov's work is a kind of bridge between traditional (and paradoxically attractive) ideas of sculpture, harmonious and transparent; and modern ideas of sculpture, which are conceptually analytical and polemical in nature..." Alexander Borovsky, art historian, curator, head of the department of contemporary trends, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg/Russia

"...Integrating it and guiding its transition to modern iconography, not retreating from the hieratic character of historical significance.Integrating it and guiding its transition to modern iconography, not retreating from the hieratic character of historical significance.
Bronze, like other "classical" materials, facilitates this type of experimentation, iconographic "transition" and integration between manual labor and technological intervention.
Morozov, as already mentioned, imposes a syncretic strategy also applied to the use of materials, combining "classical" media with technological materials of an industrial nature, as evidenced by the works on display..." Alessandro Romanini, art historian, president of the scientific committee of the Ragianti Lucca Foundation/Italy

"...Alexey Morozov addresses numerous and varied traditions, combining linguistic and iconographic sources - maintaining a balance between coupling and irony and insinuating bold and unexpected 'distractions' - with intensities, signs and themes of a distinctly contemporary nature, while forcing us to reflect on the need, repeatedly manifested throughout history, to choose past models and express ourselves..." Paolo Giulerini, Curator, Director of the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, Naples/Italy)

ABOUT THE APPROPRIATION PROJECT:

A cycle of three series of works from the EXODUS project:

1. METOPE - painting

2. HDV (heavy duty vehicle)- sculpture. 3. Nuovo Marmo (new marble)

3. Nuovo Marmo (new marble)               

The APPROPRIATION project is the artist's reflection on the borrowing through metaphysical substitution of aesthetic and ethical categories occurring in contemporary society. The pragmatic “Modus Operandi” of the actual civilization leaves no room for stylization and reflection in the cultural discourse. The laws of global marketing and the concept of sustainable development fundamentally affect the perception of visual images by the viewer of the early XXI century.         

The Doric order's metopes are not Polaroid cards? Or the yellow panel of a quarry truck, executed in the tradition of Hellenistic plastic art? And the marble of the Carrara quarries mimic vinyl and silicone. All this has an undeniable right to exist in the world of the “maxim” of pragmatism.

EXODUS exhibition, Pisa, Italy, 2024

He was born in 1967 in Moscow.

In 1984 he graduated from the Theatre and Art School at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Was a member of the group of artists "Children's Garden". From 1988-1998 he lived in Paris and worked with Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Jean-Paul Gautier and Luc Besson. 

Works are in the collections of the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art in Moscow, the Arctic and Antarctic Museum in St. Petersburg, the Dreams Museum in St. Petersburg. The Gallery's collections include the Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum, the RACh Moscow Museum of Modern Art, the Arctic and Antarctic Museum in St. Petersburg, the Z. Freud Dreams Museum in St. Petersburg, and the private collections of Charles Saatchi, Simon de Pury and Lawrence Graff.

In his work, Ostretsov appeals to the aesthetics of the comic strip. He creates authorial iconography in the spirit of mainstream comics. At the same time, unlike American artists Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, Ostretsov does not copy other people's illustrations, but develops his own graphic story close to action comics.

"New Government" is a series of fantasy installations arranged like an American comic book. There are no direct references to either country or architecture. But something, probably irrational, gives away the origins of the works. Maybe because we are all inheritors of totalitarianism, and the audience somewhere in Saatchi says after the exhibition, "Well, now we understand how things work in Russia. Art reveals national codes. International communications arise naturally.

The project "Gems of Dissent" is a kind of gray gloomy supremacist world of reliefs, reminiscent of house models, in which suddenly emerge dynamic abstract forms of bright colors, exploded architectons - the gems of dissent. These are both intimate and monumental forms. In each installation I set the subject: the pursuit, the prison, the escape, the explosion, the crown of thorns."

Gosha Ostretsov

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

• 2022 — Gems of Dissent. Syntax Gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2021 — Imitation of the Similar to the Similar. Syntax Gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2019 — Party for Time Travelers. Syntax Gallery, Moscow, Russia 
• 2019 — Sunshine Fighters. GUM-Red-Line, Moscow, Russia
• 2019 — How To Learn The Upside Down World? NK Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
• 2018 — 360 Degrees from the Inside. Artis, Moscow, Russia
• 2017 — I've been abducted hundreds of times! Palazzo Nani Bernardo, Venice, Italy
• 2016 — I've been abducted a hundred times. Triangle gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2014 — Motor Vehicles NP. Central Art Center Zarya, Vladivostok, Russia
• 2010 — Heavy Patients. Rabouan Mousson Gallery, Paris, France
• 2010 — Love For Electricity. TM Project, Geneva, Switzerland
• 2009 — Apocalypse. M.&J. Guelman Gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2009 — Banality and Eternity. Triumph Gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2009 — Robbing Good. Paradise Row Gallery, London, United Kingdom
• 2009 — Coolville. Claire Oliver Gallery, New York, USA
• 2008 — Dead Souls. Triumph Gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2008 — Milk SOS. Ravenscourt Galleries, Moscow, Russia
• 2007 — Salon Beaute. Rabouan-Moussion Gallery, Paris, France
• 2007 — Repairs. Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia
• 2005 — Lawlessness. Marat Guelman Gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2004 — Performance Art. Ceremony of presentation of New Government to the "Silver Order of Honour" of the best people of Russian Federation. S.Art Gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2002 — Vandals and Generals of New Government. Guelman Gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2001 — Agitation for Art. Guelman Gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2000 — New Government. Guelman Gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2000 — Visitor. State Russian Museum, Marble Palace, Saint Petersburg, Russia

SELECTED GROUP PROJECTS:

• 2022 — New from the Old. Krasnokholmskaya Gallery, Moscow
• 2021 — 2MAP. Media Center of Zaryadye Park, Moscow
• 2019 — Actual Art. Contemporary Artists. Red Line GUM, Moscow, Russia 
• 2016 — Collections! Contemporary Art in the USSR and Russia. 1950-2000. Center Pompidou, Paris, France
• 2016 — Russian artists participating in the Venice Biennale. Central Exhibition Hall Manezh, St. Petersburg, Russia
• 2015 — Something Different. Outside the Biennale, Cairo, Egypt
• 2015 — Enlightenment. As part of the 6th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Skolkovo, Moscow, Russia
• 2015 — Pink Box. Erarta Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
• 2015 — Liberation Continues. Graz Museum, Graz, Austria 
• 2014 — Reconstruction 2 Ekaterina Foundation, Moscow, Russia 
• 2014 — Modern Drawing. State Russian Museum, Marble Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia
• 2013 — Parts of the Whole. Within the framework of the 5th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Winzavod, Moscow, Russia 
• 2012 — Gaiety Is The Most Outstanding Feature Of The Soviet Union. Saatchi gallery, London, United Kingdom 
• 2011 — Russian Landscape. Guelman Gallery, Moscow, Russia 
• 2009 — Russian Pavilion 53rd Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art. Venice, Italy 
• 2009 — Another Mythology. SCCA, Moscow, Russia 
• 2009 — Invasion: Rejection. Baibakov Art Projects, Moscow, Russia 
• 2008 — Dead Souls. Triumph Gallery, Moscow, Russia. 
• 2008 — Russian Roulette. Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden, Germany. 
• 2008 — Laughterlife. Diehl + Gallery One, Moscow, Russia 
• 2008 — Zoo Art Fair (Paradise Row). London, Great Britain 
• 2008 — Domestic Appliance. Flowers East Gallery, London, United Kingdom 
• 2007 — Sots Art. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia 
• 2006 — Amateurs. Marres Centre for Contemporary Art, Maastricht, Holland
• 2005 — Russia 2 Bad News from Russia. WHITE BOX, New York, USA
• 2004 — Russia 2 Special Project at 1st Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia 
• 2001 — Art for Time. Graz, Austria
• 1996 — Collection of latex costumes and masks in the galleries of the 13th Quarter (Jenifer Flay Gallery, Emmanuel Perrotin Gallery, Gallery Praz - Delavallade e.t.c.)
• 1996 — Correction. Gallery e.o.f., Paris, France
• 1993 — Biennial of Contemporary Art in Istanbul, Turkey
• 1992 — Manifestation of Illustrators of France. Bibliothèque Municipal, Villeurbanne, France. 
• 1990 — Arte Sacra Biennal. Pescara, Italy
• 1985-1986 — Exhibitions with non-conformist artists of "Detskiy Sad" group. Moscow, Russia

Born in 1987 in Kopeysk, Chelyabinsk region. 

Graduated from the Chelyabinsk Art College (2007) and the graphic arts department (studio of Andrei Alekseevich Pakhomov) of the Repin St. Petersburg State Art Academy (2014). From 2014 to 2017 he trained in the creative workshops of the Russian Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. During his studies he participated in exhibitions and competitions in Russia, Korea and China, cooperated with GOZNAK (Mint). Pavel's works are in the collections of the Fabergé Museum, BREUS Foundation, private collection of the head of the House of Guerlain, as well as in private collections of many countries, including Russia, France, Korea, USA and China.

In his works, Pavel captures the process of internal metamorphosis that takes place within a person while experiencing something that comes from the outside. Having received an academic art education, Paul continues to develop in various contemporary media, experimenting with artistic languages, however a large portion of his visual practice is black and white graphics. In his work, the artist often collides academic drawing with contemporary trends, exploring the boundaries of normality and subjectivity, reality and mysticism. 

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS AND AWARDS:

• 2024 — KONTUR Graphics Fair, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Nizhny Novgorod
• 2023 — Fair |catalog|, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow
• 2023 — St. Petersburg Art Fair “1703”, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Manezh, St. Petersburg
• 2023 — KONTUR Graphics Fair, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Nizhny Novgorod
• 2023 — Quiet Move. (Un)obvious art scene of St. Petersburg, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Winzavod, Moscow
• 2022 — blazar young art fair, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow
• 2022 — Cosmoscow art fair, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow
• 2022 — a-s-t-r-a Open.Vol 1, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Winzavod, Moscow
• 2022 — St. Petersburg art fair “1703”, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Manezh, St. Petersburg.
• 2022 — Collective self-fulfilling prophecy about our beautiful tomorrow, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Vinzavod, Moscow
• 2022 — Art Moscow program within the 48th Russian Atiquarian Salon, a—s—t—r—a gallery. Gostiny Dvor, Moscow
•  2021 — Group exhibition “12345 I go looking”, St. Petersburg, Russia
•  2021 — Cosmoscow art fair, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow
•  2021 — Blazar, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow
• 2021 — Art Moscow program within the framework of the 46th Russian antique salon, a-s-t-r-a gallery. Gostiny Dvor, Moscow
• 2021 — “Russian Shield”, St. Petersburg, Russia 
• 2020 — Cosmoscow art fair, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2019 — Art Event Suspense. Brakgausen Mansion, St. Petersburg, Russia *
• 2019 — ART Event Suspense.
• 2019 — ART Event Suspense 2.0. Port Sevkabel, St. Petersburg
• 2018 — Intervention. Hermitage Museum, Main Staff, St. Petersburg
• 2018 — International Fifth Biennial of Graphic Arts. Romania
• 2012 — International Art Exhibition. Beijing, China
• 2011 — 1st place in the competition for the design of the Olympic banknote
• 2010 — International Art Exhibition. Seoul, Korea

“Creativity must always be sincere in order to find its audience. Creativity is a constant search for its sides. It is the pleasure of discovery. It is the continuous dissatisfaction with what has already been done, as a sign that one must move on. 

Deformation (from Latin Deformatio - “distortion”) is a change in the mutual position of body particles, associated with their movement relative to each other. This series presents the deep deformations occurring inside a person. Perceptions of events, experiences and thoughts, as well as external factors pass through us, distorting the cognitive shell. The deformation is the fixation of these perceptions.”

Pavel Bushuev

FAVORITE PUBLICATIONS:

• Playbill - What to watch at the new contemporary art fair |catalog|
• Moscow Online - The a-s-t-r-a gallery hosted the opening of the group exhibition “Quiet Move. (Not) obvious art scene of St. Petersburg”
• Afisha Daily - Which exhibitions are worth going to in April 2023?
• Zhara Media - Pavel Bushuyev: “Being an artist is not a job, but rather a way of life”
• Buro. - “The Great Emptiness” and “Sunset in a Hundred and Forty Suns”: exhibitions visited in the past year and planned to see in 2024

Born on June 29, 1988 in St. Petersburg. 

Studied art, philosophy, poetry and literature, as a free-lance student attended courses at the Repin Academy. Repin. Studied at the Yalta Art School. Participant of Russian and international exhibitions and residencies. Doeshvili's works are in private collections in Russia, Ukraine, USA, Australia, England, Germany, Czech Republic. Since 2022 he has been living and working in Moscow.

Kirill sees his art through the eye, which does not obey the man-made laws of perspective, striving to cognize each object through the adventure of perception. Drawing itself turns for him into an interlocutor or a stranger, with whom he begins to juggle images. Each work is a new situation in which events unfold dynamically, but all of them are simultaneously connected by a common logic and characters: Treschak the Unpunished, the Friendly Pirate, the Strolling Apollo, the Unscientific Chatterbox.  There is no bad or good among them. They are all embraced by the flame of love, but don't know how to express it properly. Just like us.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:

• 2023 — Fair |catalog|, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow
• 2023 — Blazar, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow
• 2022 — Juice from stone and earth, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Winzavod, Moscow
• 2022 — a—s—t—r—a open.vol. 2, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Winzavod, Moscow
• 2020 — Art Residence “Yuzhny Bereg” theme: “Mystery”.
• 2020 — Participant of the project NEW REALITY. FOR THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF UNOVIS
• 2020 — Art Forum Berlin Art
• 2020 — Exhibition of Expressionism, Gostiny Dvor
• 2020 — Creating psychedelic objects at the Sunburn art festival Goa, India
• 2019 — South Coast Art Residence
• 2018 — Art festival “Colors of the World” Koktebel
• 2017 — Creation and art design, “Extreme festival”
• 2016 — “Tavrida”

"An instinctive Faith in the art form, a symbiosis of inner and outer journeys, signs on the way to advancement in art. Without thinking that death is near, I am constantly trying to comprehend the emptiness of all forms that distort and reshape, have their own magnitude and even a formal notion of time. When one painstakingly draws or writes, one has two types of signs of progress along the path - definite and indefinite - which show that the result will soon be achieved. The indefinite signs, called basic signs, appear due to previous connections, even if the person has never practiced art at all . Since they cannot be relied upon, I will not describe them here. Definite marks appear as a result of drawing and are of two kinds: transitory and immutable. Transient signs may appear either in reality or in mood. As for the first kind, when you are making preliminary sketches, you may feel as if your body is about to collapse like the walls of a cracking house. Your voice may weaken, as in a state of extreme exhaustion. You may begin to convulse like you are possessed by spirits. These are indicators that you have separated reality and the world of images. Frustration with your own body, speech, and mind may appear in the mood. This demonstrates that you have purified yourself . If these states do not appear, it means that you have not gained enough experience, so you must continue to immerse yourself in the form."

Kirill Doeshvili

Kirill Doeshvili, cover of RBC Style, March 2024

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

• RBC Style - “I'm Telling You About Love”: the new issue of RBC Style has been released
• BURO. - Mythology, ceramics and SEALs: what to see at a-s-t-r-a gallery
• Cabinet de l'Art - Art review 19.01-26.01.23
• mydecor - “Juice from Stone and Earth” exhibition at a-s-t-r-a gallery
• Playbill Daily - “I create my works at night”: artist Kirill Doeshvili about his fictional world
• Snob - 5 works by artist Kirill Doeshvili in the “Art.Act” project
• Playbill - What to see at the new contemporary art fair |catalog|

Born in 1983 in Kemerovo.

Graduated from St. Petersburg State Academy of Art and Industry named after A.L. Stieglitz at the Department of Monumental and Decorative Painting, workshop of Prof. V.G. Lekanov (2004-2010) and Kemerovo Art College at the painting and pedagogical department (1999-2004). The works of the artist are in the Russian Museum.

In his works Kirill considers the idea of globalization as a metaphor for biblical subjects, using a stylistics referring to the aesthetics of the High Renaissance. Koteshov dissects the aesthetics of classical body image, exploring a motif reminiscent of Michelangelo's late sculptures from the Slaves series - spiraling bodies, somewhere unfinished, hardly carved from stone. 

The artist also creates industrial landscapes transformed into futuristic images of the city, using Kuzbasslak - coal tar, which refers to the industrial context of his small homeland.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS AND PROJECTS:

• 2024 — “Cosmopera”, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow 
• 2010 — “Stolpopotvlenie”, Atelier No. 2 Gallery, Moscow
• 2010 — “Vive la jeune Garde”, Atelier du vent, Rennes
• 2010 — “L'Exposition d'Ilya Gaponov & Kirill Koteshov”, Maison du ventes Leclere, Marseille
• 2010 — “Summer snow”, Maison du Loir-et-Cher, Blois
• 2008 — “Three Days”, Triumph Gallery, Moscow
• 2008 — “The Last Snow”, Globus Gallery, St. Petersburg
• 2008 — “UNDER GROUND”, Manezh, Small Hall, St. Petersburg
• 2007 — “Kuzbass Parallel”, Triumph Gallery, Moscow
• 2007 — “Position”, Museum of St. Petersburg State Art and Design Academy, St. Petersburg

GROUP EXHIBITIONS AND PROJECTS:

• 2024 — Fair |catalog| December, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2024 — Cosmoscow, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2024 — St. Petersburg Art Fair “1703”, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Manezh, St. Petersburg
• 2024 — Fair |catalog| April, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2023 — Fair |catalog| December, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2023 — Cosmoscow, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Moscow, Russia
• 2023 — St. Petersburg Art Fair “1703”, a—s—t—r—a gallery, Manezh, St. Petersburg, Russia
• 2021 — “Answer 42” in the framework of the International Women's Forum, Kuzbass Ice Palace, Kemerovo, Russia
• 2020 — “Realism: yesterday and today. Art and Truth”, the branch of the Russian Museum in Malaga. Spain, Malaga
• 2020 — “Artists and collectors to the Russian Museum.Gifts.1898 - 2019. Selected” State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
• 2019 — “Beauty: PLUS-MINUS”, Central Exhibition Hall “Manezh”.
• 2018 — “Project of interregional cooperation in the field of contemporary art NEMOSKVA”
• 2016 — “Ark”, as part of the V International Biennale of Young Art, Moscow.
• 2016 — “Changes”, Ural Vision Gallery, Budapest
• 2015 — “Russia. Realism XXI century”, State Russian Museum, Benois Building, St. Petersburg
• 2014 — “Newer than New” as part of the Baltic Biennale, New Museum, St. Petersburg
• 2014 — “Strictness and Beauty”, Ural Vision Gallery, Yekaterinburg
• 2014 — “The Other Capital”, Moscow Museum, Moscow
• 2014 — “Actual Drawing”, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
• 2014 — “Waterline” installation, as part of the parallel program of the biennale “Manifesta10”, Rizzordi art foundation, St. Petersburg
• 2013 — ICONS. Creative space Tkachi. St. Petersburg, Russia
• 2011 — “Gates and Doors”, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
• 2010 — ART Moscow, Triumph Gallery, Moscow
• 2010 — “Vive la jeune Garde”, Atelier du vent, Rennes
• 2010 — Summer Snow. Maison du Loir et Cher. Blois, France
• 2010 — “Hero of Our Time”, Moscow International Biennale “Stop! Who's Coming?”
• 2010 — “Futurology”, Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow.
• 2009 — Kandinsky Prize Exhibition. Louise Blouin Foundation. London
• 2009 — ART Moscow, Triumph Gallery, Moscow
• 2009 — VIII Krasnoyarsk Museum Biennale, Krasnoyarsk
• 2009 — Festival of Contemporary Art ART Zavod, Yekaterinburg (GTSI)
• 2009 — “Topology of Happiness”, Historic Architectural Museum Tsaritsyno, Moscow
• 2009 — “Russian Beauty”, GTSI, Moscow
• 2009 — Europe Art Fair 2009, Geneva, Switzerland
• 2009 — Art Basel Selection, Basel, Switzerland
• 2008 — “Death.net”, Art Gallery “Victoria”, Samara.
• 2008 — “White Space” Gallery, London
• 2008 — Festival of Contemporary Art ART Zavod, Yekaterinburg (GTSI)
• 2008— ART Moscow, Triumph Gallery, Moscow
• 2008 — “Pereuchet” Manege, Small Hall, St. Petersburg
• 2008 — “Memory of Fields”, loft-project “Etazhi”, St. Petersburg
• 2008 — Festival of contemporary art “Snegarry”, Kemerovo
• 2007 — “The Most New”, Atelier Gallery No. 2, Winzavod Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow
• 2006 — Festival of contemporary art “Art - Status”, Kemerovo
• 2006 — First Biennale of Contemporary Art, St. Petersburg
• 2005 — Exhibition of competitive works “The Nutcracker”, Exhibition Hall of the State Opera and Ballet Theater of the St. Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory
• 2003 — Work of the Year, Kemerovo Union of Artists, Kemerovo

ABOUT THE PROJECT “TREE OF LIFE”:

The main goal of the exhibition is to show the specifics of the functioning of drawing in contemporary Russian art. The main focus is on works from the 1990s-2000s, but earlier material, mostly related to conceptualism, is also included. The exhibition demonstrates various ways of actualizing drawing and drawing technique.

The intention of the work reflects the contemporary artist's distrust of the proper degree of grandeur of the space around him. The desire for the “great” inevitably leads to the element of monumental art organized according to classical laws. The idea is realized using the plot of the most daring creative event in the supposed history. The Tower of Babel, not the authentic stone steps of the ancient temple, but its mental construction, has penetrated the structure of memory and language as a multidimensional symbol. The creative act of erecting the tower can be regarded as a pure desire for greatness. The transformation of desire into action generates architectural splendor, allowing man to order nature according to the rules of supports and slabs. The creation of the tower (pillar) is the technological magnification of human civilization, and it continues to this day. Peoples, institutions, cultures and subcultures, overt and covert societies are equivalent as elements of the structure, the removal of one of them provokes instability of the puzzle. The personification of social realities turns into a metaphor of the construction process, where each character becomes an architectural block. It becomes clear that the piled bricks, which fall into place on their own, may not be aware of the existence of the Architect. Meanwhile, there is an Architect. In his role for a moment appears an artist creating virtual architecture. The scale and risk of this endeavor is deliberately high. An enthusiastically begun tower has turned into a construction frozen for lack of funds; a creation of grandiose utility risks turning into an aimless pandemonium of the crowd. And so, as a reminder of the great collapse of great ideas, the spirit of the titanic frescoes of the Renaissance inevitably accompanies the building. Considering the idea of globalization as a metaphor for biblical stories, the author uses a stylistic style that in its formal features refers to the aesthetics of the High Renaissance to build a sharp compositional structure. The body in this work merges one with the other. The body becomes at the same time a living matter, an inanimate object, a fragment, a puzzle, a detail of a mechanism that extends beyond the space of the canvas. By dissecting the aesthetics of the classical image of the body, the author thereby explores a motif that in some ways resembles the moment of Michelangelo's last sculptures from the “Slaves” series - these are spiraled bodies - somewhere unfinished - almost not carved from stone.  One can notice such a modernist gesture in them - the body both is and is not. In the same way, the body in Corpus II becomes a kind of refrain and continuation of the classical story of man, his spirit and struggle. The span of time of which we are participants and observers is a time of tectonic shifts of concepts and paradigms, like the Renaissance. Global structures absorb identities, leading to unification - of languages, images, worldviews. But can total equation be avoided? can a compromise between identity and the global emerge? can nations remain? Mixing and equation seems to be inevitable, but polyphony is always deeper and more complex. The paradox of globalization is the realization of identity. The tower cannot be completed. The general will still collapse into the particular. 

Actual Drawing Exhibition, 2014, Marble Palace, Russian Museum

Space Opera” exhibition, a-s-t-r-a gallery, Moscow, 2024

“The Tree of Life is a complex image that exists in various cultures and is one of the monumental symbols of life, the planet and all living things. Kirill Koteshov reinterprets this image in the form of a large pictorial installation, enveloping the entire space and completely absorbing our visual perception. The monumental pictorial installation, which was created in the Russian Museum for the exhibition “Actual Drawing”, really combines monumental painting, which practically turns into wall painting. The drawing is executed so qualitatively that it creates a feeling of the work of old masters, nevertheless, the theme of the Tree of Life and its realization by Kirill Koteshov remain relevant today.  In Kirill Koteshov's work, the tree is formed by the intertwined figures of people, the bodies touching and connecting with each other, creating a sense of a tree crown, a monolithic mass moving upwards and uniting all things into a single bond. The bodies are devoid of faces, gender, individual characteristics, but they are physically ideal, perfect and identical. The figures support each other, make each other bend, move, assume certain poses - but all together they form a single chain of being, a life taking shape, a mass that seems indestructible.”

Kirill Koteshov

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

• Artguide - Year three: the results of art fair 1703
• Artguide - Cosmoopera. Imaginary Architecture by Kirill Koteshov
• Vedomosti - Classics and contemporaries: four new exhibitions of spring
• BURO - Who's new? Participating artists worth coming to Cosmoscow 2023 for
• Playbill - What to see at the new contemporary art fair |catalog|