R e f e r e n c e   p o i n t
Julia Bezshtanko
(St. Petersburg)
CATALOGUE OF BODY - 2
Photography, sculpture, video installation
October 10-20, 2008

Press release

Contemporary art gallery "OkNo"
supported by Ford Foundation (it has been recognized as an undesirable organization in Russia since 2015)
and association "Unity of Journalism and Culture"

presents the project by

Julia Bezshtanko

Catalogue of Body - 2
Photography, sculpture, video installation

Julia Bezshtanko is one of few Chelyabinsk artists, it is active and interestingly working in sphere of contemporary art. Now she lives and works in Petersburg. Participation of Julia in "Reference point", a large project of gallery, is not casually. Debut of the artist has taken place just in OkNo gallery in March, 2005. There were 9 Julia's personal and more than 10 group exhibitions with her artworks in Chelyabinsk, Petersburg, and Moscow for last three years. In frameworks of "Reference point" the artist will show the exhibition "Catalogue of body - 2" and will carry out a master-class for young artists, as well as a creative meeting with students of Psychological laboratory and School of young curators of OkNo gallery.

Art for Julia Bezshtanko - not reproduction of the reality, and an intense field for internal experiences. All projects of the artist are non-interrupting reflection, search of answers to difficult philosophical questions.

"Catalogue of body" is Julia's new work in which she concentrates the attention upon human body as an art object possessing inexhaustible aesthetic expressiveness.

The project consists of three components. One of them is large-format photographs performed in macro shooting technique. These are almost abstract images of bends of the body and skin folds. Coming closely as much as possible to the surface, the artist finds out beauty of plastics and graphics of body, structure of the skin, a variety of forms more likely associated with any overseas landscapes. Video installation will become other component of the project: its two parts have initially been shooted on video, and the third part - real-time performance that was held in art-space Spider*Mouse (Moscow) on December 5, 2007 and was transmitted simultaneously with two others on monitors. The theme will be the artist's existential experiences of her own body, fragility and defenseless of its biological substance in contrast to its inexhaustible art potential. Specially for the Chelyabinsk exhibition Julia has made sculptures of padding polyester, which continue theme of variety of expressive forms and plastics of human body.

Svetlana Shlyapnikova

Vernisage will take place on October 9, 2008 at 18.00.
Entrance by invitation cards.

The exhibition will be opened for audience
from October 10 to October 20, 2008.

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