Moscow Museum of Modern Art unveils Irina Nakhova retrospective

"Skin 5" by Irina Nakhova

How do you define inner space, maximalism, total installation within contemporary art?

How do you define conceptual Russian artist Irina Nakhova?

Don´t turn to Wikipedia or the laboriously opulent and oblique prosaic prose of Russian contemporary art aficionados Joseph Backstein or Ekaterina Degot.

As curators and arts organizers, they are supposed to speak in mystical textual images.

"Resuscitation," installation by Irina Nakhova (2008 - 2009), parachute silk

All these labels may apply to Irina Nakhova, who opened her thirty-third solo show, “Rooms,” 19 May at the State Museum of Modern Art of the Russian Academy of Arts in Moscow.

Her exhibition closes 3 July.

But her images tell the story.

The show, a retrospective of the Russian conceptual artist, consider among three artistic engines of the Moscow conceptual movement of the 1970´s and 1980´s.

“If there is something that unites all different projects by Nakhova – from objects to paintings – this is the principle of gradually, layer by layer, shaping space by pictorial means,” wrote art critic Degot.

"Rooms" by Irina Nakhova

She puts Nakhova alongside Ilya Kabakov, Victor Pivovarov, and Lev Rubinstein and Andrei Monastyrski as prime movers of Russian conceptual art before it had a market, at a time when the Soviet state employed most artists.

Joseph Backstein, curator  and  director of the Fourth Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art—22 Sept. – 30 Oct.—said, in describing Nakhova, a trained artist: 

“Conceptualism sees its aesthetic aim not only in criticism of the existing social system, but also in analyzing the conditions in which art functions as an institution and as an education system."

Backstein has named Nakhova a “special guest” at the 4^th Moscow Biennale, which means she is among a handful of international artists showcased.

Rock on and practice peace and love.

Stefan, the ArtTraveler (TM)

Come to Andalusia for a walking holiday or week-long sculpture or mosaics workshop; see: www.spanjeanders.nl and www.competafinearts.com.

"Resting on a Cloud," photograph by Stefan van Drake (2010)

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ArtTraveler funky concept video about freedom. Short and to the point of laughter.