“The projects are completely different every time” – Kommersant FM

Kommersant FM columnist Dmitry Butkevich talks about how the project dedicated to Cosmonautics Day turned out.

As usual, I celebrate the main family holiday – Cosmonautics Day. My family—my wife and daughters—closely connected me with space. Their grandfather and great-grandfather Mark Gallay was the instructor of the first six cosmonauts, the author of the famous Gagarin slogan “Let’s go!” We dedicated another art project from the curatorial series “Space in the Works of Artists of the 21st Century” to him, Gallai, and the 90th anniversary of the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

This time Lera Gallay and I came up with the idea of ​​showing “Black and White Space”: graphics, objects, photographs, fabrics, made exclusively in this stylish, restrained palette. The exhibition in the Khodynka gallery of the Moscow Exhibition Halls association included 90 works by 15 artists.

In general, since 2011, when we started showing our “art space”, this is already the seventh project. It is curious that each time they are completely different. For example, one of the previous ones surprised me with a huge number of portraits of Gagarin in a variety of techniques and even types of art. I remember one object was made from computer circuit boards, the other was glued together from pieces of authentic newspapers dated April 12, 1961. And now we have the only image of him with a helmet and a familiar smile – an installation by artist Evgeniy Schneider from Monchegorsk, Murmansk region, where we once went with a version of our project.

But the current exhibition unexpectedly included many images of the Moon. Why this happens is unclear.

Some of the artists constantly participate in all space projects: Konstantin Batynkov with pen drawings, Sergey Chernov and Leonid Tishkov with objects. Some are returning after a long break – graphics by Vladimir Nasedkin and reliefs by Tatyana Badanina; some are participating for the first time, like Alexander Dedushev with graphic compositions, Oleg Tyrkin with sculpture, and Elena Rzhevskaya, who decorates the designer clothes of Elena Makashova’s HakaMa brand with her prints.

By the way, on the evening of April 21, we invite you to a curatorial tour of the exhibition with an art quest and space prizes. Entry for Kommersant FM radio listeners will be free.