Actual artists and art practices of 1980-1990 on Ural. Digest
AFRICAN CLUB
Boris Chernyshov,
Andrey Zamyatin,
Evgeny Demchenko
(Chelyabinsk)
November 25 - December 11, 2009

Press release

Contemporary art gallery "OkNo"
supported by Ford Foundation
and association "Unity of Journalism and Culture"

presents

the exhibition-research project
"Actual artists and art practice of 1980-1990 on Ural. Digest"

and the first exhibition in the frameworks of the project --
AFRICAN CLUB:
Boris Chernyshov, Andrey Zamyatin, Evgeny Demchenko

The end of 1980-1990 years became time of changes in Russia. "Other" (informal) art has received the right on legal existence. At this time, in Ural artists actively work, whose art ideas impudently polemicize with official concepts of fine arts. At the same time impreparation to perception the new, stagnancy, inertia of thinking of the Ural society as a whole so the majority of representatives of the art environment, underdevelopment of the art infrastructure -- all of these points became the reason of lack of due interest to again arising phenomena and forms of arts, and, as consequence, lack of the public sources containing the information on these phenomena today.

Many impressive art projects and persons of those years became property of memory of organizers, artists and not numerous participants of the cultural events. Now creativity of actual artists of Ural of the end of 1980-1990 has been reflected in mind of mature and young historians of art, general public in the greater degree metaphysically rather than empirically. There are no museum collections, conducting researches except for B.U.Kashkina's Museum of Ural State University (Ekaterinburg).

The exhibition-research project "Actual artists and art practice of 1980-1990 on Ural. Digest" is called for actualization of art events and projects of those years, which are important for history of arts, for comprehension and putting archives of artists into scientific rotation, for including of young critics in this process, for acquaintance public with early projects of artists recognized in contemporary art and culture of the Ural region and Russia today, and -- that is even more important -- of the forgotten artists.

Geographically the project will cover Chelyabinsk, Ekaterinburg, Perm, Nizhny Tagil.

Evgeny Demchenko. Antiworlds

Above:
E. Demchenko, A. Zamyatin, B. Chernyshov. May 1988
Boris Chernyshov. African alphabet

Below: Andrey Zamyatin. Машинка времени
 

An exhibition legendary "African club" will open the project. The appearance of this informal association has become a striking event of art life of Chelyabinsk. Boris Chernyshov, Andrey Zamyatin and Evgeny Demchenko have decided "to bring revival in sleepy, bureaucratic, boring province". The artists have engaged with enthusiasm in transformation of surrounding dull, cold, and estranged environment, having resorted to color, rhythmic associations with hot sunny Africa, called " to compensate the lack of impressions, emotional shortage by means of art". This approach has been sparklingly declared in the manifest "African expansion on Southern Ural".

The appellation "African" been comprehended as alive participation in modern processes, active position, display of individual creative temperament and, as consequence, creation of rich positive images. Having emphasized the circle of ideas and principles of association, "Africans" have started their realization by means of set of exhibitions with precisely formulated concepts.

The exhibition in OkNo gallery will present "canonical" works of artists of the period of emergence of association (1980-1990).

The exibition will be opened for public from November 26 to December 11, 2009.

Working time:
Monday - Friday 15:00-19:00,
Saturday 13:00-17:00

Admission free.

The gallery address: 79A, Sonya Krivaya St.,
(entrance via theatre studio "Maneken"),
municipal transport stop: South Ural State University.

OkNo Gallery in Internet: http://www.oknogallery.ru/
e-mail: info@oknogallery.ru
Art Director -- Svetlana Shlyapnikova
Gallery Director -- Dmitry Latukhin