'Zhur' art-project
On October 13th the ‘MINUS 4’ art –gallery opened a show of works by Pavel Vitanovsky, titled ‘Zhur’ («Жир»).
In Pavel Vitanovsky’s family the profession of an artist has been handed down from generation to generation: his parents were artists and he was brought up in a creative environment. He received his academic education as an artist at the Kyiv institute for design and applied crafts and since 2003 has had many group and solo shows.
Artist Pavel Vitanovsky
One of his latest projects was the recent ‘Bulgakov. City autograph’ show, where he presented his painterly works depicting Kyiv at the times of Bulgakov’s life. By using early 20th century photographs, the artists managed to reconstruct the atmosphere of those times and convey it in his works, some of which are now on display at ‘MINUS 4’ gallery. All in all, Vitanovsky describes painting as his favorite medium and as an artist he has his own recognizable manner of working with color, paint and his signature technique, which, however, is far from being a classic one.
Pavel Vitanovsky’s works from the ‘Bulgakov. City autograph’ series.
In the ‘Zhur’ (eng. – fat) project, the artist, this time working under a pseudonym PVA, presented works that incorporate the attributes of today’s ‘zhyrny’ (in Russian colloquial language ‘zhur’ or ‘fat’ is used to refer to luxury, lushness, extravagance) life. Such objects, very much similar to the exhibits in Kunstcameras, are presented in glass vases and fixed in them with the help of melted fat.
‘Zhur’ show
The objects themselves were donated by representatives of Ukrainian show-business specially for this project and for the sake of art.
'Zhur' show
On first glance these objects, shown in ultraviolet light, which gives the fat a very glowing shade of white, seem full of vitality. But they are, in reality, put in a disgusting fatty substance which also makes their own tackiness come through.
Svetlana Volnova donated a designer pair of shoes, rapper Larson lent his thick golden chain with his personal emblem, singer Ivan Dorn – a mobile phone, Konstantin Doroshenko – a silk Brioni tie, Olga Shurova (the wife of Dmitri Shurov, PIANOBOY) – a lace Moschino corset… Other donors, who wished to remains anonymous, contributed a Patek Philippe watch, a silver bar, golf balls, a Cuban cigar, and other objects.
‘Style icon’ (Moschino corset, Swarovsky crystals, fat)
Donations were also expected from Ostap Stupka, Jamala and Evgeni Filatov (THE MANEKEN), but none of the works at the opening had their nametags next to them.
Dmitri and Olga Shurov
Today the term ‘zhur’ gains more and more connotations, but Pavel Vitanovsky is interested in it as a plastic material, which, he thinks, is very much appropriate for use in contemporary art.
‘A Man’s Burden’ (Patek Philippe chronometer, golf balls, fat)
This ironic project both aestheticizes and makes fun of chic and glamour. Fat becomes not just a material which holds the pieces in place, but an aesthetic object too, becoming one with the expensive items that it is holding captive. After all, fat is one of the most talked about things in contemporary society…
'Zhur' show
In order to stress the diversity of the term ‘fat’, the artist and the gallery management invited Pavel Denishchuk, a plastic surgeon, member of the International association of plastic and aesthetic surgeons ISAPS, as well as a member of all-Ukrainian and all-Russian associations of plastic reconstructive and aesthetic surgery.
The project is curated by Oksana Shevchenko.
Anna Tsyba
