Vikenti nilin biography channel
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For some of the most shocking, moving, disquieting and powerful imagery you will ever see in an art exhibition, I recommend a visit to the new Russian show at the Saatchi Gallery. Some people will believe you should not take your children to this display, and I leave that up to you, but I would certainly take my children. The sights on offer here are as vivid a warning as they will ever receive of the terrible things that collapsing societies are capable of doing to their citizens; and the even worse things those citizens go on to do to themselves.
Was there ever a harsher place to live than the remnants of the old Soviet Union? I suppose there must have been, but, right now, after a roomful of Boris Mikhailov’s gripping photographs, I cannot imagine where or when. Taken in Kharkov, Ukraine, in 1997-8, his snapshots of street kids and tramps, prostitutes and drunks, drug addicts and rag-pickers, soaked in Chernobyl radiation and pickled in home-made vodka, slap you about the face and force you to pay attention in the manner popularised by East German border guards in the 1980s. (I speak from personal experience, but it’s a long story.)
The Saatchi Gallery has given Mikhailov two big rooms in which to scare us. Both are full of startling imagery. A beaten-up wom
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hosting auctions, events, plays and art shows as set out at www.russianartweek.co.uk. A double exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery is the highlight.
| Vikenti Nilin: from the Neighbours Series, 1993-present |
Since Charles Saatchi moved into his premises, I’ve found his method-oriented presentations (‘Out of Focus: Photography’, ‘The Shape of Things to Come: New Sculpture’ etc) more persuasive than his nationally-themed collections (‘Korean Eye’, ‘The Revolution Continues: New Art From China’ etc). This presentation of Russian art bucks that trend, partly because it's actually two shows which play off each other fruitfully. The first two floors constitute the contemporary Saatchi-owned and curated exhibition ‘Gaiety is the most outstanding feature of the Soviet Union: Art from ’. However, as that chillingly unrealistic Stalin quote indicates, much of the 18 artists’ work still has one foot in the past. That makes for a good fit with the third floor, where the Tsukanov Family Foundation presents work not owned by Saatchi in ‘Breaking the Ice: Moscow Art 1960s-80s’. This provides an extensive sample (22 artists, 200 works) of underground art from the Soviet era.
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Archives
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