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Nothing else
Exhibition 5 November − 12 December 2022
FUTURO gallery (Nizhny Novgorod) together with pop/off/art gallery (Moscow) present the personal exhibition of the key Russian middle generation artist Vladimir Potapov "Nothing else". More than 30 paintings will be integrated into the gallery's exposition with a large-scale installation-labyrinth of Soviet furniture and interior items collected through advertisements from residents of Nizhny Novgorod. The works presented at the exhibition will continue the series "Inside" and "Inside. Distortion", in which Potapov explores the process of replacing the present with the past, the symbolic attachment to the events and experiences of the past. Most of the works the viewer will see for the first time. Against the backdrop of the current agenda, the author also created an epic 6-meter painting "The Sign" especially for the exhibition.
The exhibition "Nothing Else" will be the author's reflection on the one hand on collective memory as a process of collective oblivion, where getting rid of old things becomes an act of liberation from the past and an attempt to erase the memory of it, and on the other hand, on the substitution of the present for the past and responsibility for it. Today, when nostalgia for the mythical past turns out to be relevant again, it becomes a symptom of discontent, indignation, and incomprehension in relation to the present. The labyrinth of Soviet furniture will prove to be a metaphor for collective memory and, at the same time, a concentration of personal stories devastated by the present day. On the one hand it is a formal conversation about the concept of eternal return, on the other hand it reveals the problems of cultural and historical identity of contemporary Russia.
It is in this project that Potapov's recognizable technique of working with material will be shown with a new scope. The artist will create new images and subjects by scraping off layers of paint and creating volume on the surface of the painting. Some of the works are complemented by elements of classical realistic painting, deformed by the bas-relief of cut-out waves and now acquiring a new sounding. The artist's exploratory approach to the theme of collective memory is found here in the technique of painting, which made it possible to combine the categories of the material and the illusory and make memories visible.
The exhibition "Nothing Else" will be the author's reflection on the one hand on collective memory as a process of collective oblivion, where getting rid of old things becomes an act of liberation from the past and an attempt to erase the memory of it, and on the other hand, on the substitution of the present for the past and responsibility for it. Today, when nostalgia for the mythical past turns out to be relevant again, it becomes a symptom of discontent, indignation, and incomprehension in relation to the present. The labyrinth of Soviet furniture will prove to be a metaphor for collective memory and, at the same time, a concentration of personal stories devastated by the present day. On the one hand it is a formal conversation about the concept of eternal return, on the other hand it reveals the problems of cultural and historical identity of contemporary Russia.
It is in this project that Potapov's recognizable technique of working with material will be shown with a new scope. The artist will create new images and subjects by scraping off layers of paint and creating volume on the surface of the painting. Some of the works are complemented by elements of classical realistic painting, deformed by the bas-relief of cut-out waves and now acquiring a new sounding. The artist's exploratory approach to the theme of collective memory is found here in the technique of painting, which made it possible to combine the categories of the material and the illusory and make memories visible.
Galleries at the exhibition
