Group Art or Death
dal 21/9/2009 al 24/10/2009
Segnalato da
Nikolai Konstantinov
Valery Koshlyakov
Yuri Shabelnikov
Alexander Sigutin
Vasily Slepchenko
Avdei Ter-Oganyan
Olga Golovanova
21/9/2009
Group Art or Death
State Museum of Modern Art of the Russian Academy of Arts, Moscow
The Group came into being as a result of activities of the young artists group in Rostov-on-Don in 1986-1990. Their debut was a success against the background of the crisis of the late old-fashioned Soviet culture. The group included artists Valery Koshlyakov, Avdei Ter-Oganyan, Yuri Shabelnikov, Nikolai Konstantinov, Alexander Kislyakov, Vasily Slepchenko; poets Miroslav Nemirov and Igor Burenin; rock musician Sergei Timofeev, and manager Vsevolod Lisovsky. A special project as part of The 3rd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art.
Curated by Olga Golovanova
The Group Art or Death came into being as a result of activities of the young artists group in Rostov-on-Don in 1986-1990. Three ill-famed exhibitions were held during these years that crystallized the ideological direction of the group. Their debut was a success against the background of the crisis of the late old-fashioned Soviet culture. In the provinces it drew a wider response.
The group included artists Valery Koshlyakov, Avdei Ter-Oganyan, Yuri Shabelnikov, Nikolai Konstantinov, Alexander Kislyakov, Vasily Slepchenko; poets Miroslav Nemirov and Igor Burenin; rock musician Sergei Timofeev, and manager Vsevolod Lisovsky. The artists became friends in the Mitrofan B. Grekov Rostov College of Art. They were united by perestroika, rock festivals, and underground life of outcasts.
The title of the Group Art or Death, being a reference of the well-known revolutionary motto «Patria o Muerte», is their principal attitude to art. There is only art, neither potboiler, nor compromise. It has been a principle of life and is still urgent at present.
The retrospective show of the Group Art or Death is the first attempt to trace the early oeuvre of the artists who are now major figures in contemporary Russian art: Valery Koshlyakov, Avdei Ter-Oganyan, and Yuri Shabelnikov. The late creation by the masters is well known to the audience and art historians, their works are in museum collections. So it is more interesting and important to show the preconditions, the start of their growth that has been no less significant and vivid than the following art careers of the participants.
The exhibition presents more than 200 artworks — paintings, prints, installations and objects. Unique photo documentation and video materials accompany the exhibition.
With support of: Fondazione Volume!, Rome
Special projects of the 3rd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art
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Opening: September 22, 7 pm
State Museum of Modern Art of the Russian Academy of Arts
10 Gogolevsky Boulevard, 2nd floor, Moscow