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COSMOSCOW Art Fair 2020

a-s-t-r-a x COSMOSCOW Art Fair

10 - 13 SEPT 2020 

OKSANA MAS, ALINA BLIUMIS, JOLIE ALIEN

booth Е3

PAVEL BUSHUEV

bopth Z36 "Moscow "

Gostinii dvor, Ilinka 4

Transcription of modernity

Time and the processes taking place with people right now are lived by them in parallel and, it would seem, at the same time, but they open up facets different from the general perception to visionaries - those who are able to read abstractions of new trends and non-verbalized meanings of the approaching universal present.

The a-s-t-r-a gallery stand at the 8th Cosmoscow fair presents the work of three women artists: three views of modernity; three dimensions of a single canvas of universal history; three different optics; multi-layered imprint of today in a triptych of thought.

Oksana Mas is an artist, humanist, philosopher living and working in Spain. In the new series of works "Memory Files", created during the quarantine, she explores in the context of the latest discoveries of neuroaesthetics, the peculiarities of the structure of collective and individual memory. Revealing changes in the prints that a person leaves and that remain in him, as a result of certain events, the artist plunges the viewer into the labyrinth of reactions and the infinity of alternative paths of the past. The multi-layered work, the reflection of the observer looking in the lacquered surface, as in the pupils of the observer conducting the experiment, the response at the level of the retina and neural reactions to color, composition, innuendo and open structure, are involved in the process in which everyone lives their own unique experience.

Alina Bliumis - born in Minsk, Belarus, since 1993 has been living and working in New York. Alina reflects on this physical, political and socio-cultural journey in her work. Throughout her practice, the artist is constantly researching the formation of national identity, its historical and geographical roots and its ambitions in global geopolitics. Using communication as a means par excellence, her projects raise questions about what constitutes a community, what constitutes boundaries, and how the former is shaped by the latter. Most importantly, the artist stresses that language itself can function as a border, as a paradigm of power, and can be used to shape a community.
In her new series, “Masses”, which premiered at the Spring / Break Art Show in New York in March 2020, the artist explores the sociology of the crowd, the process of interaction between the individual and the collective. The masses have always historically been a symbol of change, regardless of the direction of such change - revolutionary, social or cultural. The artist raises the question: participation in mass action is the disintegration of the personal, the rejection of the sense of one's own in the face of the all-embracing common, or the struggle for one's own idea, the right to be heard and the right to speak on one's own behalf.
In her works from the series “Amateur Bird watching at Passport Control”, which are also presented, Alina reflects on globalisation as a global circulation of information, money, goods, people and viruses. It uses images of birds that serve as symbols of various national states and for this reason ended up on the official documents of its citizens (passports), and frees them from national symbols, giving them the opportunity to soar freely, without knowing borders and without taking into account this or that context.

Jolie Alien is an eighteen-year-old artist living her youth, exploring years and days filled with discoveries: self-awareness, desires, dreams, new people, countries and ideas. She creates works on the back of the correct “adult” reality, turning the canvas of social attitudes, norms and restrictions to the other side, and builds her own map of meanings, manifesting herself and a specific moment of being. The expressive drawing and collage nature of the compositions of her paintings may at first glance seem discrete, but this informs the works of all the familiar, but difficult to perceptible property of lightness, freshness and the feeling that a little more and it will be possible to get off the ground, thereby distinguishing them from many others. In her work, there is a closeness to the traditions of the "art of gesture" and to individual works by ar informal. Jolie's art is a statement about oneself and fixation of the surrounding reality in the form of a lasting impression.

Pavel Bushuev's works will be presented separately at stand Z36 of the Moscow section from the "Deformation" series. "Deformation (from Lat. Deformatio -" distortion ") is a change in the relative position of body particles associated with their movement relative to each other. This series present the deep deformations occurring inside a person pass through us, distorting the cognitive shell. Deformation is the fixation of these sensations."

Alina Bliumis

Alina Bliumis is New York-based artist. Alina received her BFA from the School of Visual Art in 1999 and a diploma from the Advanced Course in Visual Arts in Fondazione Antonio Ratti, Como, Italy in 2005. Alina often collaborates with Jeff Bliumis, their collaboration started in 2000.

Alina Bliumis is New York-based artist. Alina received her BFA from the School of Visual Art in 1999 and a diploma from the Advanced Course in Visual Arts in Fondazione Antonio Ratti, Como, Italy in 2005. Alina often collaborates with Jeff Bliumis, their collaboration started in 2000.

Alina has exhibited internationally at the Musée national de l’histoire de l’immigration, Paris, France, the First Moscow Biennales of Contemporary Art (Moscow, Russia), Busan Biennale (Busan, South Korea), Assab One (Milan, Italy), the Bronx Museum of the Arts (New York, US), Galerie Anne de Villepoix (Paris, France), Centre d’art Contemporain (Meymac, France), the James Gallery, The Graduate Center CUNY (New York, US), Museum of Contemporary Art (Cleveland, US), Museums of Bat Yam (Bat-Yam, Israel), the Jewish Museum (New York, US), the Saatchi Gallery (London, UK), Botanique Museum (Brussels, Belgium), the Victoria and Albert Museum (London, UK), MAC VAL - Musée d’art contemporain du Val-de-Marne (France).

Her works are in various private and public collections, including MAC VAL - Musée d’art contemporain du Val-de-Marne, France; Musée national de l’histoire de l’immigration, Paris, France; The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK; Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Russia; Bat Yam Museum for Contemporary Art, Israel; The Saatchi Collection, UK; The Harvard Business School, USA; The National Museum of American Jewish History, Philadelphia, USA and Missoni Collection, Italy.

SOLO PROJECTS AND EXHIBITIONS

  • 2020 - A Painting For A Family Dinner, with Jeff Bliumis, Tokyo Biennale, Japan
  • 2020 - (Upcoming) Narrating Against the Grain, Kunstihoone, Tallinn, Estonia; with Tanja Muravskaja, curator Corina L. Apostol
  • 2020 - (Upcoming) Drawing Now, Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris, France
  • 2020 - (Upcoming) Masses, Spring/Break Art Show, New York, USA; curator Elizabeth M Grady
  • 2019 - Classification Patterns: Christian, Muhammad, Lee, “Y” Gallery of Contemporary Art, Minsk, Belarus; curator Irena Popiashvili
  • 2019 - On the Land of Eagles, Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris, France
  • 2019 - Poems without Borders, Project Statement, Parallel, Vienna, Austria Nations Unleashed, Spring/Break Art Show, New York, USA; curator Ksenia Nouril
  • 2018 - Political Animals, Aperto Raum, Berlin, Germany
  • 2018 - Political Animals, Aperto Room, St.Petersburg, Russia
  • 2018 - Amateur Bird Watching at Passport Control, Pushkin House, London, UK; curator Elena Zaytseva
  • 2018 - Cultural Tips For New Americans Under Trump, Spring/Break Art Show, New York, USA; curator Ksenia M. Soboleva
  • 2016 - Cultural Tips For New Americans, Popiashvili Gvaberidze Window Project, Tbilisi, Georgia
  • 2016 - Recent Works, Bushel, Delhi, NY, US
  • 2014 - Thank You Paintings Exchange, Denny Gallery, New York, USA
  • 2014 - Casual Conversations, The Laurie M. Tisch Gallery, New York, USA
  • 2013 - Which country is the best to move to? Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris, France
  • 2013 - A Painting For A Family Dinner / Lecce, Italy, Ammirato Culture House (ACH), Lecce, Italy
  • 2013 - A Painting For A Family Dinner / Beijing, China, Inside-Out Art Museum Artist-in - Residency, Beijing, China
  • 2012 - Cultural Tips Takeaway, Toomer Labzda Gallery, New York, New York
  • 2012 - Language Barrier and Other Obstacles, Peacock Visual Arts, Center For Contemporary Art, Aberdeen, UK
  • 2012 - A Painting For A Family Dinner / Bronx, NoLongerEmpty, documentation at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, USA
  • 2012 - Casual Conversations, National Museum of American Jewish History, Philadelphia, USA
  • 2011 - Cultural Tips For New Americans, NoLongerEmpty, Ideas City Festival - New Museum, New York, USA
  • 2011 - Global Reach Inc. Andrea Meislin Gallery, New York, USA
  • 2010 - Cultural Tips For New Americans, Stanislas Bourgain Galerie, Paris, France
  • 2009 - Casual Conversations in Brooklyn, Black and White Project Space, Brooklyn, New York, USA
  • 2008 - A Painting For A Family Dinner / Bat Yam, Israel, Bat Yam Museum for Contemporary Art, Israel.
  • 2008 - Dam Lines, Andrea Meislin Gallery, New York, USA (catalog)
  • 2008 - Language Barrier / Lower Manhattan, public art project, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York, USA
  • 2008 - Language Barrier–Yellow Pages, Stanislas Bourgain Galerie, Paris, France
  • 2008 - Hello, USA? Contemporary City Foundation, Moscow, Russia (catalog); curator Andrei Parshikov
  • 2008 - Language Barrier, Pulse, New York, USA
  • 2005 - Cloning Factory, MuseumsQuartier, Vienna, Austria

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

  • 2019 - Persona Grata, MAC VAL, Musée d’art contemporain du Val-de-Marne, France; curator Anne-Laure Flacelière and Isabelle Renard Cosmopolitics, Comradeship, and the Commons, Suoja/Shelter festival, Helsinki, Finland, curators Corina L. Apostol, Ksenia Yurkova and Anastasia Vepreva.
  • 2018 - Persona Grata, Musée national de l’histoire de l’immigration, Paris, France, curator Anne-Laure Flacelière and Isabelle Renard
  • 2018 - Project Statement, Parallel Vienna; curator Maria Kalinina
  • 2018 - PRO____BEL, Belarussian Art Abroad, Villa Sokrates Foundation, Krynki, Poland; curator Andrei Dureika
  • 2018 - Babble, Gallery CA Baltimore, MD, US; curator Yuzhuo Mark Zhang
  • 2017 - Ernst, Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center, Yekaterinburg, Russia
  • 2017 - Amateur Bird Watching At Passport Control, Popiashvili Gvaberidze Window Project, Viennacontemporary, Vienna, Austria
  • 2016 - Now to remember the future is not possible?, Fest I Nova, Garikula, Georgia, curator Nutsa Chikvaidze
  • 2016 - The Lives of Forms, Lower East Side Printshop, New York, USA; curator Ksenia Nouril
  • 2016 - Making Continuity Contemporary: Eastern Europe in New York, Derfner Judaica Museum, Bronx, NY
  • 2016 - The Bronx Speaks Our Home, Andrew Freedman Home, Bronx, NY; curator Sarah Corona
  • 2015 - DEAD: A Celebration Of Mortality, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
  • 2015 - Specters of Communism: Contemporary Russian Art, James Gallery, CUNY Graduate Center, NY, USA; curator Boris Groys
  • 2014 - NASS BELGICA L’immigration marocaine en Belgique, Botanique Museum, Brussels, Belgium
  • 2014 - Time::Code, Whitebox Art Center, New York, USA
  • 2013 - Unhinged, Pierogi Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, USA
  • 2012 - This Side of Paradise, NoLongerEmpty, Andrew Freedman Home, Bronx, New York, USA
  • 2012 - Foreign Bodies, Barbur, Jerusalem, Israel; curator Yevgeniya Baras
  • 2012 - Generation One and a Half, Abrazo Interno Gallery, New York, USA; curator Yulia Tikhonova
  • 2012 - Civil Disobedience Festival, De Balie Centre for Culture and Politics, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; curator Tania Volkova
  • 2012 - Foreign Bodies, Set Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, USA; curator Yevgeniya Baras
  • 2011 - Media Impact. International Festival Of Activist Art, the Fourth Moscow Biennale, Russia (catalog); curator Tania Volkova
  • 2011 - About Face, NoLongerEmpty, Festival of Ideas for a New City, New Museum New York, USA
  • 2011 - Electrica, Instituto Cervantes, New York, USA
  • 2010 - New Acquisition, The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
  • 2010 - Artistes russes: Un art au superlatif, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Meymac, France
  • 2010 - Now We Are Six, Andrea Meislin Gallery, New York, USA
  • 2009 - American Dream / Be Happy, Pulse Miami Installation Program, USA
  • 2009 - Frozen Reality, Holster Projects, London, UK
  • 2009 - No Longer Empty, Chelsea Hotel, New York, USA
  • 2009 - The Situation, Third Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia (catalog); curator Elizabeth M. Grady
  • 2009 - Ultra-New Materiality, Third Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia (catalog); curator Andrey Parshikov
  • 2008 - Moby Hosting, Bat-Yam Museum, Bat-Yam, Israel (catalog); curators Milana Gitzin-Adiram and Leah Abir
  • 2008 - Off The Wall: Artists At Work, Jewish Museum, New York, USA; curator Andrew Ingall
  • 2008 - Moscow - New York = Parallel Play, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, USA
  • 2008 - A Matter of Time, Andrea Meislin Gallery, New York, USA
  • 2007 - MOCA Mix film, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, USA
  • 2007 - Left Pop, Second Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Russia (catalog); curators Diana Baldon, Georgina Jackson, Nicola Lees
  • 2007 - Media Image and Unconscious, the Second Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia
  • 2007 - Victory Over The Sun, National Center of Contemporary Arts, Moscow, Russia (catalog); curator Vitaly Patsukov
  • 2006 - Making Love to My Ego, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, England
  • 2006 - Refuge, Busan Biennale, Busan, South Korea (catalog); curator Yun Cheagab
  • 2006 - Out Of Paint, Kuhn Gallery, Ohio State University, Marion, USA
  • 2006 - Unauthorized Access, Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
  • 2006 - Aesthetics of Resistance, Assab One, Milan, Italy (catalog); curator Roberto Pinto
  • 2006 - Contested Spaces in Post-Soviet Art, Sidney Mishkin Gallery, New York, USA; curator Elena Sorokina
  • 2006 - Korperchen, Veranstalter Medienwerkstatt, Vienna, Austria
  • 2005 - Russia Redux #1, Schroeder Romero Gallery, New York, USA;; curator Elena Sorokina
  • 2005 - Aesthetics of Resistance, Fondazione Antonio Ratti, Como, Italy (catalog); curator Roberto Pinto
  • 2005 - Post-Diasporas: Voyages and Missions, the First Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Russia (catalog); curator Olga Kopenkina
  • 2004 - Symbols of The Big Bang, Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, USA

RESIDENCIES

  • 2013 Ammirato Culture House, Lecce, Italy
  • 2013 Inside-Out Art Museum (IOAM), Beijing, China
  • 2009 Black and White Project Space, Brooklyn, New York, US
  • 2005 Quartier 21, MuseumsQuartier, Vienna, Austria

GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS

  • 2016 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, New York, US
  • 2014 Genesis Grant, Genesis Philanthropy Group, New York, US
  • 2011 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, New York, US
  • 2011 Blue Print Fellowship, New York, US
  • 2010-2011 Franklin Furnace Fund, New York, US
  • 2009 Trust for Mutual Understanding, New York, US
  • 2008 Art in Public Spaces Grant, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York, US
  • 2008 Strategic Opportunity Stipend, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York, US
  • 2008 Puffin Foundation Grant, Teaneck, US
  • 2007-2009 Six Points Fellowship, New York, US
  • 2005 Trust for Mutual Understanding, New York, US

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

  • MAC VAL - Musée d’art contemporain du Val-de-Marne, France
  • Musée national de l’histoire de l’immigration, Paris, France
  • The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
  • Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Russia
  • Bat Yam Museum for Contemporary Art, Israel
  • The Saatchi Collection, UK
  • The Harvard Business School, USA
  • Missoni Collection, Italy

SERIES "MASSES"

The series Masses (2019-2020), by Alina Bliumis is an exploration into the tipping point, where analysis becomes obsession and participation becomes dissolution, as the individual relinquishes a sense of self in the face of phenomenological overwhelm. At 58 x 83” the cotton panels that comprise the series depict crowds of over-life-size figures representing internal and external encroachment on the psyche. To pass between and among the monochrome gossamer hangings, which combine digital print and watercolor, is to revisit each time you’ve experienced that transcendent moment of fear or ecstasy where the only certainty is that you’ve given up your personal agency to the mob. 

Masses #1 is perhaps the most anomalous of the series, focusing as it does on an internal struggle. Evoking the howling forces of worry and self-doubt that visit in the blackness of the small hours of the morning, the work suggests a descent into a demon-plagued hell of our own devise. Monstrously twisted and disembodied limbs vie with attenuated spectral faces for command of the poor soul, bent over at the base of the composition, and gazing apprehensively over its shoulder at the reigning chaos. As riveting as it is disturbing, it is Fuseli’s Nightmare for our troubled times. 

On a lighter note, Bliumis turns to mass celebrations of Dionysian excess in the rock concert depicted in Masses #2. The main figure is blissed-out and spread-eagled in mid-stage-dive. The darker side of the experience is intimated by the blackened eye sockets and inverted pose of the figure, however, and we are left to question whether the stage-diver’s act is a celebration of music and communal experience or a kind of temporary martyrdom, where consciousness is sacrificed through the use of drugs for release from the pressures of this mortal coil. The veiled reference to St. Peter, who as legend has it asked to be crucified head-down so as not to risk dilution of the memory of Christ’s torture, cannot be lost on anyone familiar with the Western tradition. 

Front-page news often records crowd hysteria, and the palette of Bliumis’ series reinforces the newspaper reference in works like #7-8 and #5 which depict a Protest and Soldiers respectively. In the former, there are as many emotions as faces, showing the rage, fervor, anxiety, devotion and hope that can forge a compelling collective identity at mass demonstrations. Yet one is left to wonder, given the multiplicity of expressions, if these protestors will every achieve a unity of communal purpose. The soldiers, in their uniformity, are a stark reminder that in rigid discipline and conformity comes another kind of excess that can be wielded as a blunt and unforgiving weapon against a mass of individuals. 

Abandonment of reason is a theme that carries through several of these panels, not least in the Masses #3 (Lovers). Here, bodies entwine in the abandonment of an orgy, with the ebb and flow of momentary sensations evoked by shifts in scale, as in the couple at center right; or the union of body parts, like the heads at the bottom center, whose mouths unite when the tongue of the head on the right becomes the lips of the head on the left, in a perceptual twist that would have made Cezanne proud. 

The installation of the works, as large fabric panels dividing the space, will create a disorienting experience for viewers, ideally a psychological state that hints at if not approximates the loss of self experienced when one becomes part of a crowd or mass, whether for good or for ill, ecstasy or violence. Bliumis depicts scenes where mass experience tips over into mass hysteria, where the intellect is overcome by emotional input. What differentiates a rally from a revolution? A riot from a rock concert? Whether attending a military exercise, a religious rite or an orgy, overload provides release through collective identification with a larger purpose. 

Text by Elizabeth M. Grady

SERIES "AMATEUR ORNITOLOGY ON PASSPORT CONTROL"

The series “Amateur Birdwatching at Passport Control” is dedicated to birds depicted on the covers of passports from around the world.

From eagles to pigeons, from Albania to Tonga, this series explores the intersection of nation and nature. Birds are often part of the national hereditary symbol system or coat of arms and appear on passport covers with metallic gold. On 43 passport covers, I noticed 50 birds or related creatures.

In the works, I isolated each bird from its national symbolic context and painted it according to the source, focusing on the characteristics of the species: the famous one-legged pose of a flamingo (Bahamas), a gliding vulture (Mali), an extinct flightless dodo (Mauritius) and a mythological creature half woman and half bird, Harpy (Liechtenstein). Some birds were easy to identify, some required research using different birdwatching sources, discussion with friends and experts.

I created each bird on a copper plate, etched and printed in one copy, the result is “Amateur Birdwatching at Passport Control”, album, 2016-2017, series of 43 works, relief etching on paper, 12 x 9 inches.

Then I scanned the unique prints and printed them on fabric: Amateur Birdwatching at Passport Control, 2018, 43 series, digital print on silk paper, 44 x 54 inches each, Vol. 3.

Special edition for a-s-t-r-a gallery of 11 works, digital printing on paper, 30 x 40 cm each.

Alina Blumis

What do the birds dream about?

When we speak about globalization we mostly mean the global circulation of information, money and commodities. However, long before this circulation started animals, birds and insects were circulating around the world – and they still are. Migration of birds and animals preceded the migration of men. At the same time not all the animals migrate. Some of them are local – and parts of local ecologies. That is why migration of animals and other living organisms, such as viruses and microbes, is seen as dangerous for the ecological balance in certain regions. Now, the analogy with the human migration is obvious. Often enough it is also seen as a negative factor destroying the ecological balance of certain national states. 

Alina Bliumis came to the USA from Belarus. One of the persistent topics of her art is a reflection on the processes of accommodation and integration in which everyone with a similar background is unavoidably involved. The tone of this reflection is far from being dictated by personal ressentiment or protest. Rather, her attention is drawn by the absurdities of the processes themselves. Her recent projects “Amateur Bird Watching at Passport Control” and “Political Animals” deal with the images of animals and birds that serve as symbols for different national states and thus put on the official documents, including passports, of their citizens. There is this standard expression: free as a bird. Speaking about the freedom of birds we mean, of course, the migrating birds that high in the sky cross all the national borders – the freedom which the planes, for example, do not have. 

However, the birds which images we find in our passports are not migrating birds. Mostly, they are birds of prey – like eagles, for example. In this respect they are similar to the political animals – lions or bears. The eagles do not migrate – they are circling in the air and controlling their territory. They are machines of surveillance. They look for a prey – and catch it. So it is clear enough why so many states have chosen the eagle as its symbol. Of course, there are also some more peaceful examples. But the common characteristic of all these birds is the fact that they are local – be it a pelican from Barbados or a parrot from Dominica. All these birds are prisoners of their territories. Do they ever dream to become free, to migrate, to visit different countries – and not only to draw always the same circles over the same territory? We do not know it. But if the birds have these dreams it is the citizens of the states that have images of these birds in their passports who realize these dreams – at least in symbolic terms. Thus, even if a parrot remains on Dominica and a pelican - on the Barbados the passports with their images have a chance to be checked at the airports all around the world. Whatever can be said about the migrants one thing is sure: they realize their birds’ dream of flying.

Text by Boris Groys



Works


Masses #8
Alina Bliumis

Masses #8, 2020

watercolor on printed cotton, wood
210 x 147 cm
Masses #7
Alina Bliumis

Masses #7, 2020

watercolor on printed cotton, wood
210 x 147 cm
Masses #5
Alina Bliumis

Masses #5, 2020

watercolor on printed cotton, wood
210 x 147 cm
Masses #6
Alina Bliumis

Masses #6, 2020

watercolor on printed cotton, wood
210 x 147 cm

Mas Oksana

Oksana Mas was born in 1969 in Ukraine.
Currently lives and works in Figueiras, Spain.

Oksana Mas is an artist, philosopher, humanist, urbanist, theorist and popularizer of contemporary art.
Oksana's works are sold at Sotheby's, Christie's and Phillips and are in museum and private collections such as the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Stella Art Foundation, BREUS Foundation, Joerg Bongartz Collection, Sorelouzos Family Art Museum, Capital Group Art Foundation, Ekaterina Foundation , collections of Victor Pinchuk and Viktor Bondarenko.

Oksana Mas was born in 1969 in Ukraine.
Currently lives and works in Figueiras, Spain.

Oksana Mas is an artist, philosopher, humanist, urbanist, theorist and popularizer of contemporary art.
She participated in the 54th Venice Biennale (with a solo project, represented Ukraine), in the 55th Venice Biennale, in the 65th Film Festival in Locarno, at the Biennale "Women and Art" in Sharjah, UAE, and in numerous international exhibitions: Art Basel Miami (Miami, USA), Frieze (London, UK), FIAC (Paris), ARCOmadrid (Madrid, Spain), The Armory Show (New York, USA), Art Dubai (Dubai, UAE).

Oksana's works are sold at Sotheby's, Christie's and Phillips and are in museum and private collections such as the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Stella Art Foundation, BREUS Foundation, Joerg Bongartz Collection, Sorelouzos Family Art Museum, Capital Group Art Foundation, Ekaterina Foundation , collections of Victor Pinchuk and Viktor Bondarenko.

EDUCATION:

  • 2019 — Master of Fine Arts, decorative art and restoration at Poltava National Technical University
  • 2014 — Master's degree in philosophy at Odessa State University named after Mechnikov
  • 2003 — Bachelor of Philosophy at Odessa State University named after Mechnikov
  • 1992 — Odessa State School of Arts named after M.B. Grekov
  • 1986 — Illichivsk School of Arts (Illichivsk, Odessa region, Ukraine)

PERSONAL EXHIBITIONS:

  • 2019 — AMBIT. Galeria d’Art, Barcelona, ​​Spain
  • 2018 — Oksana Mas. Spiritual cities. Sotheby’s, Milan, Italy
  • 2017 — Oksana Mas. Spiritual cities. Art Ukraine Gallery, Kiev, Ukraine
  • 2017 — Oksana Mas. Spiritual cities. MA*GA Museum, Galarate, Italy
  • 2017 — Oksana Mas. Spiritual Cities. Malpensa Airport, Milano, Italy
  • 2017 — Gravity and glass. NK Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
  • 2015 — Oksana Mas. Get together. ArtFactory Istambul, Istanbul, Turkey
  • 2014 — Oksana Mas. Kasteyev State Museum of Arts, Kazakhstan, Almaty
  • 2013 — Renewal of the Sacred. House of the Nobleman, London, UK
  • 2013-2011 — Biomorphic realism. Mironova Gallery, Kiev, Ukraine
  • 2012, 2018 — Die Gestalt. TRIUMPH Gallery, Moscow, Russia
  • 2012 — Black & White. Bengelsträter Gallery, Dusseldorf, Germany
  • 2012 — River Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
  • 2012 — Helium-3 and other Works. Barbarian gallery, Zurich, Switzerland
  • 2012 — Barclays Bank, Zurich, Switzerland
  • 2011 — Post-vs-Proto-Renaissance. Ukrainian Pavilion. 54th Venice Biennale, Italy
  • 2010 — Helium-3. Aidan Gallery, Moscow, Russia
  • 2010 — Retrospective. Casamor’s Foundation, Museo Dali de Figueras, Figeyras, Spain
  • 2009 — When Stars Align. Zorya Fine Art Gallery, New York, USA
  • 2009, 2008 — Mimesis Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland
  • 2008 — MAS. Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia
  • 2007 — Hired to Dream. Aidan Gallery, Moscow, Russia
  • 2006 — Assembly point. Gallery T. Ladyzhinsky, Odessa, Ukraine
  • 2005 — Photo exhibition "The phenomenon of epidermism." Gallery "Karas", Kiev, Ukraine
  • 2005 — Black and white reverse. RIS Gallery, Barcelona, ​​Spain
  • 2004 — Oksana Mas. Odessa State Art Museum, Odessa, Ukraine
  • 2003 — Oksana Mas. Museum of Western-Eastern Art, Odessa, Ukraine
  • 2003 — Everyday Originality. Exhibition Hall of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine
  • 2002 — Oksana Mas. Center for Contemporary Art "Soviart", Kiev, Ukraine
  • 2002 — The project "365". Central exhibition complex "Morvokzal", Odessa, Ukraine
  • 2001 — Oksana Mas. Odessa State Art Museum, Odessa, Ukraine
  • 1997 — Oksana Mas. Picture Gallery Valkenburg, Netherlands
  • 1997 — Oksana Mas. M-Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
  • 1997 — Oksana Mas. Museum of Fine Arts, Illichivsk, Ukraine
  • 1995 — Oksana Mas. Museum of Fine Arts, Illichivsk, Ukraine
  • 1995 — Oksana Mas. Central Exhibition Hall of the Union of Artists, Kiev, Ukraine
  • 1995 — Oksana Mas. UN Exhibition Hall in Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine

GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

  • 2020 — Cosmoscow Art Fair, Москва, Россия
  • 2019 — AMBIT. Galeria d’Art, Barcelona, ​​Spain
  • 2018 — Oksana Mas Monostand at Shanghai Design Exhibition
  • 2017 — Contemporary Istanbul. Monostand NK Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
  • 2016 — COSMOSCOW 2016. Monostand of the International Heritage Art Gallery
  • 2014 — 5th Biennale of female art "Women and Art". Museum of Modern Art, Sharjah, UAE
  • 2013 — Project "Glasstress" at the 55th Venice Biennale. Venice, Italy
  • 2013 — Art India. Mumbai, India
  • 2013 — White Light / White Heat. Glasstress project for the 55th Venice Biennale. London, Great Britain
  • 2013 — Pre-auction exhibition. Munich, Germany
  • 2013, 2009 - Sotheby's pre-auction exhibition. London, Great Britain
  • 2013 — Christie's Pre-auction Exhibition. London, Great Britain
  • 2012 — MAS & PICASSO. Monte Carlo, Monaco
  • 2012 — ViennaFair. Vienna, Austria
  • 2013-2011 — Art Karlsruhe. Karlsruhe, Germany
  • 2011 — 54 Venetian Biennale. Venice, Italy
  • 2011 — The Glory of Ukraine. International Meridian Center, Washington, USA
  • 2010-2006 — ART Moscow. Moscow, Russia
  • 2010 — ART Chicago. Chicago, USA
  • 2010-2007 — Fiac. Paris, France
  • 2010 — ARCO. Madrid, Spain
  • 2010-2008, 2006 — Art Dubai. Dubai, UAE
  • 2009 — The Armory Show. New York, USA
  • 2013, 2011-2009 — ART Kiev. Kiev, Ukraine
  • 2007 — The Movement. Evolution. Art. Cultural Foundation "Ekaterina", Moscow, Russia
  • 2007, 2006 — Art Basel Miami. Miami, USA
  • 2010, 2009, 2005 — Group exhibitions at the Aidan Gallery. Moscow, Russia
  • 2005 — Moscow International Fair of Fine Arts. Manege, Moscow, Russia
  • 1999 — Foundation of Russian Artists. Paris, France
  • 1999 — Golden-Art-Gallery. Cologne, Germany
  • 2000, 1998 — "Marine-2000" Biennale. Odessa, Ukraine
  • 1997 — Hall Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • 1997 — Municipal Exhibition Hall, Maastricht, Netherlands
  • 1996 — French Cultural Center, Kiev, Ukraine

SPECIAL PROJECTS:

  • 2012 — Oksana Mas's project “The Phenomenon of Epidermism” won an independent critics prize at the 65th Locarno Film Festival
  • 2011 — The unique mosaic group “Look Into Eternity”, consisting of 15,000 hand-painted Easter eggs, was donated and installed at the Hagia Sophia of Kiev Museum (XI century)
  • 2011 — On the central avenue of Monte Carlo Henri Dunant, the works of the “Sphere of Good and Spiritual Renaissance” by Oksana Mas were installed. Prince Albert II of Monaco chose Oksana Mas's “Spheres of Good and Spiritual Revival” and Anish Kapoor mirrors for installation in Monte Carlo, Monaco

THEY ARE AMOUNG US

The biblical subtext is nearly omnipresent in contemporary art. It's the inertia of Christian civilization, which rules the sphere of sublime and symbolic. Attempts to link images to the Good Book are natural in cases where a dimension of timelessness is needed. Oksana Mas is also interested in the tension between mythology and image, and so she infuses her series "They are among Us" with biblical subtexts. The heroes of the series are common both for her work and the recreational urban spaces she scans to find the subjects for her paintings. Starting from the Renaissance the artist looks for a model to feature in his take on the biblical theme. Mas goes the other way round: her beloved scenes of rest and bliss are inscribed with biblical allusions. The series bear a stylistic resemblance to the base layer of paintings in the "Hired to Dream" series. Full-color paintings become more abstract, however, the contours wander, appear and disappear, and the forms tend to sphere in the style of Hans Arp or early Archile Gorky. Sometimes the paintings give an air of gothic glass-stained windows; the use of lacquer enforces that impression. The people and the space in paintings tend to be close in form and color intensity. The colors feel saturated, much like in decoratively rich paintings of Pierre Bonnard or Eduard Vuillard. One of the most memorable images of the series is called "God's Fool". It is an ageless person seated near a couple of young(ish) women. His facial features are erased in a manner of 1920s Malevich. In his depictions of kolkhoz workers, he searched for a formula to paint the body after abstraction. It seems that there has been a sacral subtext at work also: Malevich wanted to find an ideal type. This type was not to be depicted with the help of individualization and other realistic techniques. Mas has other reasons to "forget" the facial features. Biblical heroes emerge anonymously; they converge with the fabric of the outside world. Otherwise Mas' narrative would come too close to be particular, and the images would fall prey to endless references to iconography of the past. Plus, Mas is not a witness to a miracle, but simply arranges the constellations of matter "by the Book", according to an overused mythology. It's not surprising then, that some compositions are taken whale from other series by Mas. Acouple reclining on the grass is, of course, "Hired to Dream". Pigeons, as always, make reappearance, but Mas is reluctant to let them play roles from the Bible. As ever, the space of Mas' paintings is more readily associated with the subject of "Rest on the Flight to Egypt", and if the depicted people are close to revealing their biblical selves, their actions are bound to be as peaceful as the atmosphere that surrounds them.

Text Valentine Djakonov

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:



Works


24.09.13_2 (365)
Mas Oksana

24.09.13_2 (365), 2013

Acrylic on canvas, author stikery
40 x 40 cm
28.10.13 (365)
Mas Oksana

28.10.13 (365), 2013

Acrylic on canvas, author stikery
40 x 40 cm
13.09.13 (365)
Mas Oksana

13.09.13 (365), 2013

Acrylic on canvas, author stikery
40 x 40 cm
04.10.13 (365)
Mas Oksana

04.10.13 (365), 2013

Canvas, acryl
40 x 40 cm

Alien Jolie

An autodidact artist, she works with catchy images, simple plots, cropped compositions and expressive drawings. Each of Jolie's works is introspective, connected with personal memories, which partly explains her visual language, which is intertwined with surreal images, simple geometric patterns, catchy inscriptions made with paint and spray.

Jolie Alien was born in 2002 in Moscow.

An autodidact artist, she works with catchy images, simple plots, cropped compositions and expressive drawings.

Each of Jolie's works is introspective, connected with personal memories, which partly explains her visual language, which is intertwined with surreal images, simple geometric patterns, catchy inscriptions made with paint and spray.

Jolie's works resemble a wall that has been covered with graffiti for a long time: the figures float on top of each other, creating a collage effect. Jolie outlines youth, which she has direct access to and which is closed to the adult world.

The artist finishes her studies at the Moscow art INSTITUTE, combining a career in the fashion industry, participating in shows of such brands as Valentino, Off-White, Jil Sander, Paco Rabanne, Prada, Viviene Westwood, Simone Rocha, etc. Starred in international advertising campaigns Mango, Fendi, Adidas.

The rights to use the image of "Whirpool" were acquired by Mango for use in the release of a collection of t-shirts around the world. She was the subject of articles about her work in Document Journal, Vogue, InStyle, Elle and models.com.

Preparing for admission to Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.

Complementary colors, expressive drawing and collage compositions of her paintings may seem confusing to many, but this confusion, ambiguity is a special feature of Jolie's works that distinguishes them from many others. As an artist, she values and puts perception above reflection, intuitiveness and even a certain automaticity of her paintings are related to art Brut and some of the works of Jean Dubuffet.

Jolie's language is highly subjective and even introspective. Perhaps only classical techniques can now allow the artist the luxury of speaking out about himself and capturing the reality around him as an enduring impression.

Her works are in collections in Russia, China, Japan, Belgium and America.

Lives and works between Moscow, London, and Tokyo.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:

  • 2021 — Symbiosis, solo exhibition, Peak Moscow by a-s-t-r-a gallery, Moscow, Russia;
  • 2020 — Cosmoscow Art Fair, a-s-t-r-a gallery, Moscow, Russia;
  • 2020 — ENTER Art Fair, a-s-t-r-a gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark;
  • 2020 — I Lost Track of the World", curated by Irina Shulzhenko, Richter space, Moscow, Russia;
  • 2019 — One, Two, Three, curated by a-s-t-r-a, group exhibition, Cube.Moscow space, Moscow, Russia;
  • 2019 — 20.11, curated by Irina Shulzhenko and Dmitry Yanchoglo, solo exhibition, Richter space, Moscow, Russia;
  • 2019 — 1367 Number of My Tick - What to Do?, curated by a-s-t-r-a, solo exhibition, Cube.Moscow space, Moscow, Russia;
  • 2019 — Color, live performance (creating a five-meter wall painting) at the opening of a-s-t-r-a LAB, Moscow, Russia;
  • 2018 — Wanted, Kino gallery, Moscow, Russia.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:



Works


Chair without support covered with a bouquet
Alien Jolie

Chair without support covered with a bouquet, 2023

Canvas, oil, acrylic, pastel
90 х 120 см
Good boy
Alien Jolie

Good boy, 2023

Acrylic, oil on canvas
60 x 70 cm
Night Paris
Alien Jolie

Night Paris, 2023

Canvas, oil, acrylic, spray paint
120 x 130 cm
Chair with three legs
Alien Jolie

Chair with three legs, 2023

Canvas, oil, acrylic
100 х 120 см

Bushuev Pavel

From 2014 to 2017 he studied at the creative studios of the Russian Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg.  His works are in the collections of the Fabergé Museum, BREUS Foudation, the private collection of the head of the Guerlain House and in other collections in Russia and abroad. 

Born in 1987 in the city of Kopeysk, Chelyabinsk region.

Graduated from I.I. Repin St. Petersburg State Academic Institute in 2014 (graphic arts department, workshop of Andrei Alexeevich Pakhomov).

From 2014 to 2017 he studied at the creative studios of the Russian Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg.  His works are in the collections of the Fabergé Museum, BREUS Foudation, the private collection of the head of the Guerlain House and in other collections in Russia and abroad. 

The work presented in the "Deformation" series captures the process of profound changes during the experience of something that comes from the outside, the metamorphosis that occurs inside a person in the process of reflection, the scarring of events and the experience of them and the very thought of them, which distort our cognitive shell.

"Having received an art academic education, I continue to develop in various modern media, being in search of new forms and images, I am constantly experimenting with artistic languages. But the lion's share of my fine practice is still black and white graphics.

In my work, I often come across academic drawing with modern trends, at the moment on the verge of between them is the most interesting space for research for me. It is there that you can find out the limits of normality and subjectivity, reality and mysticism, releasing the images of the subconscious in a more accessible visual manner.

Creativity must always be sincere to find its viewer. Creativity is a constant search for our sides. This is a pleasure from the find. This is a continuous resentment from what has already been done, as a sign that it is necessary to move on.

While working on illustrations for Bram Stoker's Dracula, I needed to find a solution for the performance of this piece. Having tried several techniques, the choice fell on the monotype. The miraculous magic of printing, its randomness bribed me, forced me to look for new images and meanings. In parallel with the work on illustrations for the dark novel, the Warp series was born.

Deformation (from Lat. Deformatio - "distortion") - a change in the relative position of body particles associated with their movement relative to each other. This series presents the deep deformations occurring inside a person. Perceptions of events, experiences and thoughts, as well as external factors pass through us, distorting the cognitive shell. Deformation is the fixation of these sensations." 
(Pavel Bushuev)

 

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS AND AWARDS

  • 2022 - St. Petersburg Art Fair "1703", a-s-t-r-a gallery, Manezh Central Exhibition Hall, St. Petersburg
  • 2022 — Program Art Moscow within the framework of the 48th Russian Antique Salon, a-s-t-r-a gallery. Gostiny Dvor, Moscow
  • 2021 — Program Art Moscow within the framework of the 46th Russian Antique Salon, a-s-t-r-a gallery. Gostiny Dvor, Moscow
  • 2021 — "Russian Shield", St. Petersburg, Russia
  • 2020 — Group exhibition "Kholotel", Moscow, Russia
  • 2020 — Cosmoscow Art Fair, Moscow, Russia
  • 2019 — ART Event Suspense. Brackhausen Mansion, St. Petersburg
  • 2019 — ART Event Suspense 2.0. Sevcable Port, St. Petersburg
  • 2018 — Intervention. Hermitage, General Staff Building, St. Petersburg
  • 2018 — International Fifth Biennale of Graphics. Romania
  • 2012 — International Art Exhibition. Beijing, China
  • 2011 — 1st place in the competition for the design of the Olympic bill
  • 2010 — International Art Exhibition. Seoul, Korea


Works


Adam and Eve
Bushuev Pavel

Adam and Eve, 2020

Monotype on paper
100 х 70 см
150 000 ₽
King and Queen
Bushuev Pavel

King and Queen, 2020

Monotype on paper
100 х 70 см
150 000 ₽
SoldLoneliness #2
Bushuev Pavel

Loneliness #2, 2020

Monotype on paper
70 x 100 cm
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