Intertainmen
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SUZANNE CH4SSLER
4 Spccial-terf& -Jewish News .7
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2000
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Vladimir Yankilevsky: "No. 10 om the "City'
series, 1993, mixed media on paper
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arring images dominate the''C;urreiii
exhibition—Modernism and Post-
Modernism : Russian Art of the ,!i-q4-se ng
Millennium" — at the Elaine L ::-Iteob
Gallery on The Wayne State University dpus.
Thirteen artists raised-:in Russia, some still
there, convey the oppression and repression
- etched into the souls of their countrymen.
Rebelling against the realism condoned by
the political establishment, the artists infuse
pop icons.
Although 10 of the artists are Jewish, their
work generally is not distinguished by religious
references.
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"They're dealing with the present . won\i'ffitk_
a backgnd of sadness, and a lot of the Jewish
people who cOthe to this show get to feel the
- 1nited
way their parents felt as they came to th 4
States," says_curator Alexandre Gertstnan. He
organized the exhibit of 70 pieces that travel:
ing to three other campuses -, including JAhn
Hopkins University in Maryland, East Carolina
UniVersity- in North Carolina and Haft
Colleg in New York..
bisically cu-raie thematic exhibits, but this
is one of the most diverse exhibits I've done. I
show Russian artists who are established and
new I wanted artists who would show different
trends while keeping_their creativity, and I tried
to present artists who have absorbed the art of
the countries where tjiey now live."
The iiiork"; Oft . display through Matt:101,
represent both the form-conscious style of the
constructivists and the idea focus of the decon-
structivists.:The pieces were put together under
the sponsorship of the International Art
Foundation of Former Soviet States Inc.
(INTART), a nonprofit organization adminis-
tered by. Gertsman. :
PerhapsAre easiest - ? . vorks to deal with. are those
of-Yuri Albert, who, like most of the other artists,
has exhibited and is represented in collections of
many countries. InA Portrait of the Artist,'Albert
shows his own image in imitation of the series
done by Andy Warhol. In Yuri Albert Masterpiece,
he mimics the work of Roy Lichtenstein. Albert
seems to explore the loss of individual identity felt
by those who lived under Communist rule.
Irina Nakhova, who divides her time between
New York and Moscow and has had exhibits at
the Cranbrook Art.Museum and the Paint
Creek Center for the Arts in Rochester,. also
addresses the issue of individuality and. its
absence. Bodies dressed in togas -- In
Memoriam I and In Memoriam II, both acrylic
and oil on board — have no heads.
"As objects, the artist's headless characters are
withdrawn into themselves," explains
Gertsman, who was an architect and freelance
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Andrei" Barov: 'Absolute Beginning," 1992-1993,
photo-collage from the 'Paper World IF series.
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