WIDE AWAKE
Russian Art Exhibit

April 8-30, 2000
Russian Art: Curated by Kevin Vais of InterArt Gallery, Huntington, New York
American-Russian Art: Curated by Yuko Nii, The WAH Center
Opening Reception Saturday, April 8th, 4-6 P.M.

Dmitry Pahomov /St. Petersburg, Russia BILLIARDS Oil on canvas, 40"x60", 1996

The WAH Center and InterArt Gallery are pleased to present an exhibition featuring Russian art. We will be looking at two different groups of Russians. On the first floor we present Russian artists who live and work in Russia with the exception of one in Israel and another in Paris. On the second floor you will see works by American-Russians now living in the New York City area. Fine art in all media will be displayed (oil on canvas, watercolor, limited edition lithography, pencil, pastel , oil drawing, and sculpture). In this show we will make a comparison of these two groups.

Classic Russian painting forms one of the oldest and most prominent artistic heritages. This tradition is distinguished by mastery of the subject and highly professional technique. This is the foundation of both the Russians still working in Russia as well as those now in the West. After years of well disciplined, academic study of anatomy, architectural structure, color theory, composition, still life, portraiture, and copying after the masters at museums, etc., they move on to their individual expression. Now the Russian artists are free of Communist 'systems.' So what has this done to their artistic expression? Have some Russians reinvented themselves with their new freedom? Some of the art of the New York Russians is indistinguishable from any Western art. Some of the art of the New York Russians still hint of a Russian or Eastern European heritage. Some adults came in the 1970s and have lived here for years, and others came to America as teenagers and are certainly Americanized. All of these factors make for interesting exploration of the development of the individual American-Russian artist.

If the living, social & political environment influences art, then what are the differences between the artists living in Russia and Russians now living in the United States? This show asks many questions, and is a show that explores the range of Russian art in the context of the Post-Soviet world, and looks at the New Russian artist astride the two great traditions, Russian and American.

AMERICAN-RUSSIAN ARTISTS
Katya Blumenberg, Vladimir Davidenko, Larisa Deckermendhi, Ksenia Deckermenji, Gennadiy Feldman, Michael Fishgoyt, Alex Fishgoyt, Evgeni Gordiets, Mikhail Gubin, Nadia Klionsky, Roman Kordvin, Manya Kotlin, Andrei Moskvine, Vladimier Nekrasov, Igor Nourgaliev, Aleksei Panin, Sasha Paperno, Aleksandr Razin, Elly Scheblanov, Scherer/Ouporov, Felix Sherman , Emil Silberman, Stan Starikov, Suetlana Zalutskaya, Irina Zavyalova

RUSSIAN ARTISTS
Tagia Barsegyan, Alexander Bazarin, Sofia Baturina, Irina Berulia, Dmitry Danish, Vlad Kara, Alex Khvostenko/Khvost, Serge Kranich, Yuriy Laptev, Elena Lesnichaya, Dmitry Pahomov, Peter Saruhanov, Serge Sovetnikov, Mila Staroverova, Alexander Sudakov, Zachar Shapiro, Igor Tonkonogy, Vasiliy Trusov, Boris Ivanov, Serge Usatov, Maria Vladimirova, Dmitry Yakovin

Sample Images:
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