TOO MUCH
The Ruarts Foundation presents a new large-scale exhibition by contemporary Russian artists. Enthused by studying the diversity of cultural manifestations, in the new project entitled ‘Too Much’ the curators decided to focus on the phenomenon of kitsch, examining it on the basis of modern art from the early post-Soviet years to the present day. The exhibition conceptualises kitsch as an important element of contemporary visual culture, and its intricate dialectical relations with art are clarified through mutual references and symbolic connections.
The exhibition combines several polyphonic levels, each of which is described by one of the common subjects of kitsch. These include the paradisiacal life revealed in proximity to nature, the cult of celebrity and standards of corporeal and spiritual beauty, high culture and its aesthetic canon.
In his seminal essay ‘Avant-Garde and Kitsch’ the American art critic Clement Greenberg emphasises how widespread kitsch has become since the Industrial Revolution. His declaration published in 1939 remains just as relevant today. He wrote that kitsch is the “simulacra of genuine culture”, that it is “mechanical and operates by formulas… the epitome of all that is spurious in the life of our times”.
“The exhibition ‘Too Much’ provides an opportunity for a critical look at the defining features of kitsch: positive content, simplicity and unambiguity, parody, sentimentality and formulaicity, and also demonstrates the stable signs of its visual language and figurative system: flowers, jewellery, children, mythological characters and creatures, media personalities, sweethearts and lovers. The exhibition allows us to discover the vast potential kitsch offers for the study of present-day culture, collective and individual values, as well as for artistic reflection,” explains Alexey Maslyaev, curator of the project.
The group exhibition showcases a broad range of visual solutions, styles and techniques, including painting, graphics, photography, video, installation and sculpture. This project is based on works from the collection of the Ruarts Foundation, which presents artists of different generations. The exposition features items from the Multimedia Art Museum, the Ekaterina Foundation, the galleries Artwin, fābula, Futuro, Pennlab, Ruarts and XL, and the private collections of Pierre Brochet, Anton Kozlov, Grigory Konstantinov, Sergey Limonov and Denis Khimilyaine.
Among the main exhibits are AES+F’s iconic ‘Who wants to live forever…’, miniatures by Alexander Zakharov, important works from the series ‘Humiliated and Elated’ by Irina Korina, fantasy photographs by Ivan Gorshkov, images by the art duo Alexander Vinogradov and Vladimir Dubossarsky, a collection of works from the series ‘Confidential Materials 2’ by Mamyshev-Monroe, objects by Daniil Antropov, silkscreen printing by Aidan Salakhova, works by Alexander Savko and Olga Tobreluts, the Blue Soup group’s video artwork ‘Lake’, a number of works by street wave artists GIWE, 0331c and Grisha, the ‘Trading’ series by Alexander Egorov, etc.
