Regina Gallery is pleased to announce, Nuts, a group show of a new generation of predominantly Russian artists who will present their latest works. Whilst the participants have already attracted worldwide attention through multiple group shows in international institutions and Biennales, most of the works in the exhibition are being shown abroad for the first time. In the poem The Tale of Tsar Saltan Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837) wrote about a magical squirrel that could make nuts turn into precious stones. This poem has a special place in Russian consciousness, being an ongoing source of influence to children and inspiration for the older generation who grew up with these stories always present in Russian education. Here, the nuts became a symbol of how classical ideas permeated into general culture, leaving its mark in unexpected ways. Translated into the English language, there is an obvious play of words which refers to the craziness of young thinkers. For instance, the deceptively simple paintings of art collective EliKuka (Oleg Eliseev and Evgeniy Kukoverov, b. 1985 and 1984) play upon striking graphic slogans and illustrations to bring about absurd meanings in objects from everyday life. Other artists are clearly inspired by the vocabulary of different movements of the 20th century. Vlad Kulkov’s (b. 1986) organic paintings are expressive and imply dynamic gesture. Through collage Olya Kroytor (b. 1986) invents her own language located in the aesthetics of Social Realism and constructivism. Arseniy Zhilyaev (b. 1984) also draws upon constructivist typology to make sculptural slogans from such readily available materials as flat-pack shelves and old furniture. Whilst certain artists in the exhibition approach the creative process from a purely aesthetical perspective, others create an obviously politically-engaged body of work. Egor Koshelev’s (b. 1980) iconic and figurative compositions result in a mixture between traditional painting and urban graffiti. Lastly, the unambiguous videos of Armenian-born Tigran Khachatyran (b. 1980) deal with technical progress and human liberation, and depict a society built on mass media and political controversies. The past few years have seen the youngest generation of artists moving towards the creation of a blank slate in relation to pre-existing ideas which were dominant in the art movements of the last hundred years. In Russia, this group have each come up with unique positions, entirely detached from former dogmas. Through such means this group of individuals have been able to explore all possible horizons in various media such as painting, sculpture photography, video and installation.
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