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210211: Centre PasquArt Anatoly Shuravlev
Centre PasquArt
Anatoly Shuravlev
16.01.11 – 20.03.11
Phantom pain
The last sentence of the review in the Kunstforum magazine on the 2009 Venice Biennial is rather blunt: it deals with Anatoly Shuravlev’s installation of glass balls resembling Christmas tree ornaments hanging from almost invisible threads in a fragile floating cloud, lit warmly in the otherwise dark room. Miniature photo portraits of well-known 20th century personalities are encapsulated in each glass ball– ranging from Ghandi to Einstein, Elvis or Obama. But the critics were not impressed by the intended magical atmosphere: „Despite all well-known and important people, these installations are insignificant pieces of decoration.“ A harsh verdict that can now be more closely examined at Shuravlev’s first solo exhibition at the Centre PasquArt in Biel/Switzerland. Resembling pinched out confetti they flow in all variations across the exhibition rooms, integrated into round, square or cloud-shaped Plexiglas objects, mounted on walls or integrated onto c-prints: tiny analogue photo portraits with a diameter of 1cm of known and unknown people. And it is exactly this endless and rather unvaried repetition that is problematic.
Shuravlev is involved in what one would call „Global Art“. Born 1963 in Moscow he commutes between his home country and Berlin. His global nomad-like life is not only part of his biography but also part of his work: e.g. he extracts the templates for his collages from mass media and here and there includes a little bit of Tibet, China, India, Hollywood stars or important art historic figures. These well-known topics are at least comprehensible to most people in the Western Hemisphere - if one only understood what the artist actually wanted to say. And the poorly written exhibition guide doesn't help find a deeper interpretation: the text is rather superficial thus arousing the suspicion that the same may be valid for Shuravlev’s art. Or are we being unfair? With his miniature pictures, Shuravlev literally forces one to take a very close look. However, what one sees has no depth, on the contrary – it opens a path towards arbitrariness.
If one attempts to evoke strong emotions of attraction and rejection with meaningful gestures and emotion, combined with pleasant aesthetics, the observer yearns for a moment that calms the charged atmosphere. However, If this fails one is left with the phenomenon of kitsch. In any case, this exhibition is characterized by a lot of drama. “Temporary Visual Wound” is the title of the intervention in the huge Salle Poma, which is divided by a black horizontal line – resembling a wound. A strong artistic message! But could the inflationary number of photo miniatures be the reason that this wound doesn’t really hurt?
Centre PasquArt
2502 Biel / Seevorstadt 71 – 75 / faubourg du lac
Tel: +41 32 322 55 86
Fax: +41 32 322 61 81
Email: info@pasquart.ch
http://www.pasquart.ch
Opening hours: Mon – Fri 2 p.m. – 6 p.m., Sat – Sun 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Mehr Texte von translated and summarized by: Liz Wollner-Grandville
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210211
Kunsthaus Pasquart
2502 Biel / Bienne, Seevorstadt 71 Faubourg du Lac
Tel: +41 32 322 55 86, Fax: +41 32 322 61 81
Email: info@pasquart.ch
http://www.pasquart.ch
Öffnungszeiten: Di, Mi,Fr 12-18, Do 12-19, Sa 11-18 h
Kunsthaus Pasquart
2502 Biel / Bienne, Seevorstadt 71 Faubourg du Lac
Tel: +41 32 322 55 86, Fax: +41 32 322 61 81
Email: info@pasquart.ch
http://www.pasquart.ch
Öffnungszeiten: Di, Mi,Fr 12-18, Do 12-19, Sa 11-18 h
