Rus

FUTURO Gallery (Nizhny Novgorod) together with the pop/off/art gallery (Moscow) present a personal exhibition of the key Russian artist of the middle generation Vladimir Potapov "Nothing Else". More than 30 paintings will be integrated into the gallery's expositions with a large-scale labyrinth installation of Soviet furniture and interior items collected from advertisements from residents of Nizhny Novgorod. The works presented at the exhibition will continue the series "Inside" and "Inside. Distortion", in which Potapov explores the process of replacing the present with the past, symbolic attachment to events and experiences of past years. Most of the works the viewer will see for the first time. Against the backdrop of the current agenda, especially for the exhibition, the author also created an epic 6-meter painting "The Sign".

The exhibition "Nothing Else" will be the author's reflection, on the one hand, on collective memory as a process of joint oblivion, where getting rid of old things becomes an act of liberation from the past and an attempt to erase the memory of it, and on the other hand, on the substitution of the present for the past and responsibility for it. Today, when nostalgia for the mythical past turns out to be relevant again, it becomes a symptom of discontent, indignation, misunderstanding in relation to the present.

The labyrinth of Soviet furniture will turn out to be a metaphor for collective memory and, at the same time, a concentrate of personal stories devastated by today. On the one hand, this is a formal conversation about the concept of eternal return, on the other hand, it is the identification of the problems of the cultural and historical identity of modern Russia.

It is in this project that the recognizable technique of Potapov's work with the material will be shown on a new scale. The artist will create new images and stories by scraping off layers of paint and creating volume on the surface of the painting. Some of the works are supplemented with elements of classical realistic painting, deformed by the bas-relief of carved waves and now acquiring a new sound.

The artist's exploratory approach to the theme of collective memory finds itself here in the technique of painting, which made it possible to combine the categories of material and illusory and make memories visible.

FUTURO Gallery

Nizhny Novgorod

04 November - 18 Desember

2022

NOTHING ELSE

The spectators of the vernissage became unwitting participants in the hidden work. On top of the Soviet furniture was the inscription "I was not shown anything here, I did not see anything here," referring to Boris Pasternak's reaction to Osip Mandelstam's poem about the mustachioed mountaineer. Pasternak was horrified by the realization that he, as a listener, was in danger. This incident is evidence of a total fear of the state machine and, as a result, self-censorship in creativity and control over what was said in public space and private conversations.

I DID NOT SHOW ANYTHING HERE, I DID NOT SEE ANYTHING

FOREST

30 х 30 х 30 см., layout, 2022

authors IVAN and BOGDAN POTAPOV

A SIGN

152x608 cm, wood, oil, taxidermy, 2022

NEW SECURITY