Semyon Faibisovich
19 Sep - 15 Nov 2011
© Semyon Faibisovich
Train is approaching from the cycle metro again, 2009
mixed media, oil on canvas
150 x 195 cm, 59 1/8 x 76 3/4 in
Train is approaching from the cycle metro again, 2009
mixed media, oil on canvas
150 x 195 cm, 59 1/8 x 76 3/4 in
SEMYON FAIBISOVICH
Three In One
19 September - 15 November, 2011
Regina Gallery is pleased to present Semyon Faibisovich’s personal exhibition Three in One, which consist of three parts: Once upon a Sunset, Three Triptychs and Metro Again. New project of the famous author, which opens the program of The Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, will be demonstrated in Moscow for the first time, and its fragments have already created a commotion at Art Basel.
In 2007, after a twelve-year break, Faibisovich returned to the medium of painting. This return coincided with a brand new way of producing works, comprising of photography (the use of a mobile camera phone), the emulation of painting through a use of digital technologies including printing onto canvas, and painting as such in the final stages of production. This is the trinity referred to in the title of the exhibition. Placing brushstrokes over photographic images to make them look like painting or, conversely, painting in such a way as to create the illusion of a photograph were not the author’s objectives. These techniques, used in combination with many others, are only a means to an end in terms of what the author wants to achieve. Somewhat like a curious gardener, he is involved in a crossbreeding of various types of painting, grafting the ‘real’ painting onto a wild array of digital painting games – thus creating a new art product, a brand new breed of painting. The exhibition Three in One is this breed’s detailed presentation.
Chance passerbies, cars, mysterious shadow spots, which lie askance at undulating wall – this is Once upon a Sunset cycle. Ten themes, ten canvases, flooded with light and darkness. In terms of real time the pictures are separated by moments. But beyond such differences of substance they are also distinguished by other means. In each picture the artist has offered different interpretations of styles, colors and textures. However, such a postmodern ‘game’ marked by irony and reflection does not displace but rather serves to underline the ‘traditional’ message of the paintings, each addressing the lyrical theme of a sunset. Further emphasis is made by the use of the sprawling Alla Prima technique – a kind of painting normally reserved for huge sketches.
Thematically, the project Three Triptychs is a follow-up to the Razgulayi cycle created by the artist between 2008 and 2009. Conceptually and ideologically this series is a defence of the triptych. It showcases the resourcefulness and relevance of a form usually looked down upon as archaic and morally out of date. In each triptych some basic stylistic rules are violated in a certain way through the use of modern methods of production and narrative, including reportage. As a result, the works presented could be seen as ‘wrong’ from the viewpoint of staunch supporters of both tradition and innovation. But for the open-minded these works are quintessential examples of a form that addresses both eternal questions and the pressing issues of today.
The series Metro Again is the artist’s dialogue with his own series Metro that was created a quarter of a century ago. Since then, economic and social frameworks have changed dramatically, as has the author himself and the technologies he employs in his work. The line-up of passengers has tangibly altered – in terms of class and ethnicity. And, accordingly, by the way they dress and their behaviour. Now we as viewers even look at them differently – armed by the filters of a new cultural landscape. And yet the continuity of historical epochs is very real, the things which unite these people are no less tangible than the discrepancies between them.
Semyon Faibisovich was born in 1949 in Moscow. Graduated Moscow Architectural Institute. Behind his shoulders the great number of personal exhibitions in Russia, Europe and USA. His works participated in prestigious international art fairs and exhibitions - Remembrance. Russian Post-Modern Nostalgia (New York), Post-War Russian Avant-Garde (Miami), Noncomformist Art from the Soviet Union (New Jersey), Art Basel (Basel), Before Neo and after Post (New York) and others. Semyon Faibisovich’s pictures are kept in collections of Moscow Modern Art Museum, State Tretiakov Gallery (Moscow), ICON Gallery (Birmingem), Time Magazine Museum (New York), The Jane Voorhees Zimmerly Art Museum (New Brunswick, New Jersey), Ludwig Museum (Aachen, Budapest), Kunsthalle in Emden, Modern Art Museum (Музее современного искусства (Lodz) and others. Lives and works in Moscow.
Three In One
19 September - 15 November, 2011
Regina Gallery is pleased to present Semyon Faibisovich’s personal exhibition Three in One, which consist of three parts: Once upon a Sunset, Three Triptychs and Metro Again. New project of the famous author, which opens the program of The Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, will be demonstrated in Moscow for the first time, and its fragments have already created a commotion at Art Basel.
In 2007, after a twelve-year break, Faibisovich returned to the medium of painting. This return coincided with a brand new way of producing works, comprising of photography (the use of a mobile camera phone), the emulation of painting through a use of digital technologies including printing onto canvas, and painting as such in the final stages of production. This is the trinity referred to in the title of the exhibition. Placing brushstrokes over photographic images to make them look like painting or, conversely, painting in such a way as to create the illusion of a photograph were not the author’s objectives. These techniques, used in combination with many others, are only a means to an end in terms of what the author wants to achieve. Somewhat like a curious gardener, he is involved in a crossbreeding of various types of painting, grafting the ‘real’ painting onto a wild array of digital painting games – thus creating a new art product, a brand new breed of painting. The exhibition Three in One is this breed’s detailed presentation.
Chance passerbies, cars, mysterious shadow spots, which lie askance at undulating wall – this is Once upon a Sunset cycle. Ten themes, ten canvases, flooded with light and darkness. In terms of real time the pictures are separated by moments. But beyond such differences of substance they are also distinguished by other means. In each picture the artist has offered different interpretations of styles, colors and textures. However, such a postmodern ‘game’ marked by irony and reflection does not displace but rather serves to underline the ‘traditional’ message of the paintings, each addressing the lyrical theme of a sunset. Further emphasis is made by the use of the sprawling Alla Prima technique – a kind of painting normally reserved for huge sketches.
Thematically, the project Three Triptychs is a follow-up to the Razgulayi cycle created by the artist between 2008 and 2009. Conceptually and ideologically this series is a defence of the triptych. It showcases the resourcefulness and relevance of a form usually looked down upon as archaic and morally out of date. In each triptych some basic stylistic rules are violated in a certain way through the use of modern methods of production and narrative, including reportage. As a result, the works presented could be seen as ‘wrong’ from the viewpoint of staunch supporters of both tradition and innovation. But for the open-minded these works are quintessential examples of a form that addresses both eternal questions and the pressing issues of today.
The series Metro Again is the artist’s dialogue with his own series Metro that was created a quarter of a century ago. Since then, economic and social frameworks have changed dramatically, as has the author himself and the technologies he employs in his work. The line-up of passengers has tangibly altered – in terms of class and ethnicity. And, accordingly, by the way they dress and their behaviour. Now we as viewers even look at them differently – armed by the filters of a new cultural landscape. And yet the continuity of historical epochs is very real, the things which unite these people are no less tangible than the discrepancies between them.
Semyon Faibisovich was born in 1949 in Moscow. Graduated Moscow Architectural Institute. Behind his shoulders the great number of personal exhibitions in Russia, Europe and USA. His works participated in prestigious international art fairs and exhibitions - Remembrance. Russian Post-Modern Nostalgia (New York), Post-War Russian Avant-Garde (Miami), Noncomformist Art from the Soviet Union (New Jersey), Art Basel (Basel), Before Neo and after Post (New York) and others. Semyon Faibisovich’s pictures are kept in collections of Moscow Modern Art Museum, State Tretiakov Gallery (Moscow), ICON Gallery (Birmingem), Time Magazine Museum (New York), The Jane Voorhees Zimmerly Art Museum (New Brunswick, New Jersey), Ludwig Museum (Aachen, Budapest), Kunsthalle in Emden, Modern Art Museum (Музее современного искусства (Lodz) and others. Lives and works in Moscow.