Albert Soldatov
See-no-evil monkey
16+
Pop/off/art gallery presents the solo exhibition of artist Albert Soldatov "See-no-evil monkey".
Albert Soldatov, winner of the Kandinsky Prize, better known for his video works, thinks in terms of new media art. The artist is interested in contemporary cultural genesis, which emerges under the influence of new technologies, and its problems: globalization, post-truth, Internet addiction. Investigating social activity in virtual reality, Albert Soldatov chooses the language of emoji and practices of YouTube-bloggers for his project. However, for the artist it is not just a symptom of the simplification of communication tools, but a visual embodiment of the crisis of ideas.
The new single-channel video, whose format is strongly stretched horizontally, contains a short mystical action, a hybrid of horror and unpacking broadcasts in Youtube. Along with the video, the exhibition will feature a new painting series. In his paintings, Albert Soldatov, a follower of postdigital art, uses the technique of spraying with acrylic cylinders to achieve a smooth pictorial plane that can be perceived as a phone, computer or TV screen.
The title of the exhibition, "See-no-evil monkey" is an articulation of an ancient Buddhist symbol transformed into an emoji . As part of the concept of "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil," this image in this context is transformed into some other essence that has lost its connection with religious teachings. In the paintings, the emoji pictures are the main protagonists, losing the function of communicating the message. Like a kaleidoscope, they fold into different forms, forming new images, but losing their original meaning. "Emoji, jumping out into reality like a circus dog, are scattered all over the media surface and live in it as if they've always been there. You haven't. There is a sense that they exist independently of us, like a slice of tentacles of completely alien constructs on a flat screen surface. Why are they so excessively carnivalesque, what do they want to claim about themselves, can I imagine myself as emoji and then what would I want to see?" - asks the artist.
Albert Soldatov was born in 1980 in Moscow, graduated from the Moscow State Institute of Printing in 2002 as a graphic artist, and studied at the Rodchenko Moscow School of Photography and Multimedia in the New Media workshop from 2010-2014. Winner of the 2014 Kandinsky Prize in the category "Young Artist. Project of the Year", works primarily with video. Participant of numerous group and several personal projects, including Media Art Festival (2018, MAXXI Museum, Rome), CITIZENFIVE video program, Art Athina (2017, Athens), Triennale of Russian Contemporary Art in the Garage Museum (2017, Moscow), IX International Andrei Tarkovsky Film Festival "Mirror" (2015), "Great Expectations" (2014, Manezh Exhibition Hall, Moscow), special Biennale projects and others. The works are in the collection of the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow and in private collections. Soldatov lives and works in Moscow.
Open Studios
Free of Charge 
Starts at 10:00 