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until 06.05.| #3886ARTatBerlin | HazeGallery shows from 27. April 2023 the group exhibition STRANGE HOLIDAYS, curated by Irina Rusinovich.
We’re all used to posting vacation photos on Instagram – bright, catchy and with a sunny smile. Most of us associate the word “vacation” with something pleasant and relaxing. But is that always the case? Modern culture and cliché thinking dictate strict rules for our presence on social media, and by following them, we create an illusory reality where there is only the appearance of vacation and widespread success. Being unsuccessful and unhappy is not accepted, is unpleasant for those around us, and destroys the myth of a happy life cultivated by consumer society.
In “Strange Holidays” three artists – Irina Drozd, Ivan Plusch and Dmitry Shorin – offer the viewer their own interpretations of what a vacation can look like beyond glossy photos and hollowed-out images. All three authors have their own unique and recognizable artistic language, but what they have in common is a preference for combining hyperrealistic elements with surrealistic details, strange creatures and perspectives that would not be possible in real life. All the authors use bright colors, images, sharp and contrasting light and shadows in their works.
In the works of Irina Drozd we see landscapes full of warm sunlight, smiling figures, but a subtle sense of unease immediately permeates the viewer. Besides the blond children, there are figures that have no place here – fantastic creatures and strange details painted to the smallest detail seem frighteningly realistic. The author, as in many of his other painterly paintings, works with the theme of fears. By using metaphorical images and archetypes that, despite their strange and inexplicable nature, have a fairly clear idea of something sinister, Irena leaves room for the viewer to think about what they mean to him personally and what kind of nightmare a beach vacation can turn into.
Ivan Plusch 2023, courtesy of HazeGallery
Ivan Plusch, like Irina, turns to the theme of fear, but in his works it is rather the fear that a vacation threatens to become forever. The artist’s desire for a beautiful vacation does not arouse optimism, quite the opposite – it floods the viewer with a wave of cold. The sultry sky and green palm trees dissolve under a surrealistic sky covered with stains reminiscent of corrosive, destructive acid, leaving nothing.
The allegorical image of the elements that we always long for when we go on vacation is rediscovered in Ivan’s work. We are reminded that nature means not only beauty, mountains, sun and sea, but also the destructive force in the power of our existence.
Irina Drozd 2023, courtesy of HazeGallery
Dmitry Shorin, unlike the other two artists, resorts less to surrealistic details and works with the viewer’s attention through unexpected angles and perspectives. In his paintings, the space in which the figures exist is distorted, subject to the author’s intention, and governed by laws different from those we are accustomed to in real life. Dmitry’s paintings are also full of light and bright color accents, which gives them a sense of liveliness, lightness and cheerful mood, but not in the way we are used to in social networks, but ironic, prickly and thoughtful.
Opening: Thursday, 27. April 2023, at 19:00 Uhr
Exhibition Dates: Thursday, 27. April until Saturday, 6. May 2023
To the Gallery
Image Caption: Dmitry Shorin, 2023, courtesy of HazeGallery.
Exhibtion Strange Holidays – HazeGallery | Zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin | Contemporary Art | Ausstellungen Berlin Galerien | ART at Berlin
