Dates: November 14, 2022 - February 01, 2023
Opening reception: November 24, 2022, from 17.00 to 21.00
Illustration workshop: December 17 at 14.00
Venue: Varshavskie Bani complex, 34 Varshavskoye Shosse, Moscow
Exhibition opening hours: daily from 10.00 to 22.00. Admission is free.
Organizers: Kvartira S Gallery, 50/50 Group, Varshavskie Bani complex
www.kvartiras.com | www.varshavskie-bani.ru
All works are available for purchase at the exhibition or by phone (Telegram, What’s Up):
+7 925 113 4017.
The Kvartira S Gallery and the 50/50 group of independent artists, in collaboration with the Varshavskie Bani complex, present the group exhibition Half and Half.
The Half and Half exhibition brings together ten artists with distinctive styles. The exhibition features both individual works by the artists and paintings created in pairs: one artist completed 50% of a work before passing it on to a partner, who finished it in their own style. Thus, each painting by the 50/50 group is the joint creation of two artists.
The exhibition at Varshavskie Bani introduces viewers to vibrant, bold, and topical works by contemporary artists, highlighting the diversity of artistic techniques and styles: pop art, street art, digital illustration, Cubism. Fashion, psychedelic art, and Surrealism. Here, visitors will encounter works ranging from impeccable minimalism to sensual, provocative expression.
“Irony, humour, audacity, absurdity, madness, rule-breaking, and a riot of colour. Contrary to its title, the Half and Half exhibition does not divide positive emotions in two, but multiplies them at least tenfold. And the Varshavskie Bani complex is the perfect setting for all this ‘mischief,’ in the best sense of the word,” says Olesya Sudzhan, director of the Kvartira S Gallery.
Participating artists:
Valeria Salnikova, YOUKA, SIEVA, Timur Rakhmanov 78.Skulls, Maria Denega M.D. ARTSTUDIO, Pavel Klimov РНТТ, Dima Luchiani, Arseny TRUBA, SANECHEK, SEMENOV.
Founders of the 50/50 project:
Valeria Salnikova
Valeria Salnikova's style is “Picassism” — Cubism with a touch of Pop Art. In her work, Valeria seeks to convey different moods, using a vivid color palette that speaks for itself. The originality of the style lies in a unique combination of bright colors, a fearlessness in “fracturing” the form of an object, a body, a face in unexpected places, breaking every law of easel painting. Valeria's painting is marked by broad and indistinct brushstrokes, an uneven outline, and certain parts of the face or body deliberately enlarged. She primarily paints Cubist portraits in a fashion style, occasionally abstract landscapes. To create her works the artist uses oil, yet often draws sketches with markers, watercolor pencils, and pastel. Valeria has tried her hand in various directions: paintings on canvas, painting mannequins, interior objects, clothing.
YOUKA
In her style, Youka combines abstraction with primitive forms. The artist favors intuitive painting, with a complete rejection of any preliminary planning of the subject or sketch. Characteristic is the use of acrylic and relief paste, a choice of pure, bright colors, and the bounding of form with a black contour. In her work, Youka raises questions of the endless search for meaning and one's place in the world, liberation from social stereotypes, and the choice of one's own unique path. The meditating astronaut — as an image of a conscious personality.
SIEVA
Sieva loves to experiment with the surface of the canvas and very often takes the picture plane to a third level. Antique clocks, keys, a mirror, a chessboard, books, and other objects become the protagonists of the artist's paintings. Old things acquire a “body” and enter the context of the contemporary world. Sieva also paints canvases with her own blood, intensifying the philosophical charge of the works and raising important questions of humanity. One of Sieva's passions is eyes. As the artist describes them, “these are the eyes of mad and free people who are not afraid to be kind and open.”
Timur Rakhmanov 78.Skulls
Timur's style is characterized by precision, the graphic quality of his lines, and hatching. In his works, the artist favors depictions of skulls and well-known characters, whom he transforms into his unique vision of dead heroes. Without an art education and without relying on recognized canons, Timur experimented extensively in search of his unique style and form of depiction. Behind the author lie thousands of sketches, experience in graffiti, a practiced skill in 3D modeling and digital sculpture, collaboration with the video game industry and character rendering. The second wave of the project included the artists:
MARIA DENEGA M.D.ARTSTUDIO – pop-art
PAVEL KLIMOV PHTT – surrealism
DIMA LUCHIANI luchiani_art – pop-art
ARSENY TRUBA – street-art
SANECHEK – surrealism, digital
SEMENOV – pop-art, digital
The exhibition in the media: