For the first time, I managed to visit Art Basel, in Switzerland. It was so exciting that during the visit there was no strength left for emotions. Icons of the past and contemporary artworks, most of which I have already seen and know, but some I want to explore more closely.
FRANZ WEST
The artist was born in 1947 in Vienna. Without a professional art education, West sought inspiration from the Vienna Group of Experimental Writers and Philosophers of the time. In early works, Franz West left a field for human activity with these art objects. So the sculpture became, as it were, a continuation of the human body, the external form of their desires. Later, these sculptures will be called Passstücke, as the artist called them Adaptives, because in the process of perception, both the sculpture and the viewer adapt to each other.
The artist created works from papier-mâché and household items. Often, Franz created music or texts for his works with his friends, writers and musicians. For the artist, childhood remained something motivating and a place for constant return. Paints from children's stores, papier mache - a technique that is studied at school, colored doodles like sculptures - as if the artist conveyed, first of all, a feeling of happiness and carelessness.
Franz West, “Motel” (1993/94) ART Basel 2016 [Sculpture] Visit 20.06.2022 Basel
For me, his works are primarily attractive for their materiality and colour. I see a lot in common with Franz and at the same time there is some strong difference. I think I'm more narrated. So to say, in my sculptural works there are more associations, and his works are more abstract.
LEONARDO DREW
American artist Leonardo Drew spent his childhood in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where there was always a huge waste dump in sight. Today, the artist seems to recreate this feeling and materials from childhood memories. But now, everything presented takes on a kind of rethinking, passed through his thoughts and hands.
“Though they could be mistaken for found objects, the myriad parts are studio-made, with precision and care, from fresh materials, then patina’d with paints and resins, sand and rust. To install them, he lays them across the floor, then mounts them one by one. “I go in with a plan,” he says of his process, “then you feel the space and you jump in. I become the weather and it takes shape around me.” The final effect is monumental and microscopic, a confection of order out of chaos.” (Caroline Roux JUNE 10 2022, “Artist Leonardo Drew’s explosive sculptures draw order from chaos” online At: https://www.ft.com/content/d91767ea-9dff-48fe-a185-ed5ddef34b12 (Accessed 29.07.2022)
Leonardo Drew, “Number 341” (2022) ART Basel 2016 [Sculpture] Visit 20.06.2022 Basel
At first glance, it seemed to me that these were all collected items, but it turned out that these were only some parts of the garbage.
I understand such a careful processing of each object, rethinking it through the process of casting or painting.
LIU WEI
Liu Wei, “Dimension” (2021) ART Basel 2016 [Sculpture] Visit 20.06.2022 Basel
The first thing that struck me in the works of the Chinese artist Liu Wei is the size and some kind of purity. But, it would seem, why? I'm usually fascinated by "flesh and blood", what attracted me so much?
“Liu Wei’s paintings depict architecture and urban life. According to the artist this is not a theme that he deliberately sets out to explore, rather he does so because buildings and cities are the blueprint of human existence.” (CHRISTIES, September 15, 2015 Studio visit: Liu Wei online At: https://www.christies.com/features/Liu-Wei-6486-3.aspx (Accessed 02.08.2022)
The artist was born in Beijing in 1965. He grew up during the MAO era, when everything was controlled and subject to the political regime. Under such conditions, it is difficult to go against the system or even start thinking critically. But Liu Wei found a way to be critical of Chinese reality. He creates sculptures from pressed books, from recycled pig or cow skin, which are commonly used for dog bones. Often the artist uses materials bought at a flea market or from the garbage. At the same time, the artist does not create the work himself. In China, cheap labour is why he has dozens of assistants. Which also characterizes his technique of work as a whole. By creating glitch landscape paintings, Liu Wei combines his passion for urbanization while marking our digital time and combining it with mass production in China.
Here I draw a parallel with my work and my predilection. I have always been interested in my nationality and culture, especially after I left Russia in 2016 and got to know the world especially closely. At such a distance from the Motherland, as it were, the general plan becomes visible. It seems to me that I depict the anguish and hopelessness of Russian nature through the depth of colour and simple craft materials - wood, canvas, if the metal then it should be rusted, and so on ... I deliberately expose the methods of creation - not nailed, but tied with a rope, that looks like a collapse, not capitally, but a "tyap lyap" - not proper just cover the surface.
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