Admilarteiskie Stories

The atmosphere and the aura of exhibit is just as big of a part of my art shows as communication and tension of the places I paint. So far I have had two exhibits in public places – at Kuznechnoi Farmers’ Market and in the grocery store “Pyaterochka”. My exhibit in the store “Pyaterochka” took place in November 2010. It was part of the project “Stories from the Admiralteiskiy District” which was organized and introduced by the charity fund “CEC Artslink”. I presented a series of works made not far from the store. There were portraits of workers, the changing room at the factory (“Spetsplastina”, the former “Red Triangle”), an entrance and a window of the store “Halal”, a soccer field near a school with a hole in the soccer net, and the main entrance to “Admmilarteiskie Werf” with a digital watch showing the temperature. The exhibit lasted five days and got different reactions and reviews from customers, staff, and the store manager. One customer came to buy vodka and w as so impressed with the art that ended up giving 1000 rubles to the fund. A woman who collects baskets and carts in the store was very unhappy that the workers on the paintings were not Russian. She cursed enough to be charged with a hate speech crime. The next day, one portrait was turned to the wall. The project culminated in a series of installations, film screenings, and exhibits throughout the district . Photographer and curator Solmaz Guseynova, documentary filmmaker Mikhail Zheleznikov and me conducted research and interviews with residents in the Admiralteiskiy District, collecting numerous everyday life stories from its diverse population.