“This is a retrospective of the author’s 30-year artistic activity” – Kommersant FM

Kommersant FM columnist Dmitry Butkevich talks about what the sculpture exhibition at the Fabrika Center for Creative Initiatives is dedicated to.

Then I realized that the Center for Creative Initiatives “Fabrika”, on Perevedenovsky Lane, is, in general, the oldest art center in Moscow that has existed in its previous location – 19 years. To be honest, I have a complex relationship with the “Factory”; for me this space is somewhat marginal. But friendly artists treat him with respect, and I have a good attitude towards Asa Filippova, the permanent head of the TsTI. In addition, she is the sister of my late good friend, the excellent artist Andrei Filippov.

Wow, 19 years already! The pre-anniversary year opens with an exhibition of my old friend, sculptor Sergei Chernov. Serezha’s project is called predictably: “Everything is gone!” Anyone who knows Chernov will understand me.

This is a personal work, even a retrospective of the author’s 30-year artistic activity: sculptures, archival documents, photographs, sketches. Experts write that “looking back on his creative path, the artist discovered that most of the sculptures he created for public spaces and open-air exhibitions were lost.”

I’ll tell you the story of one of the exhibits. We met Seryozha at the long-standing project “Sleeping Area”, there were a lot of different beds there. He exhibited a tin can – Chernov successfully works with metal. An open tin can, two meters long, was the bed.

Serezha gave the work to my family. With great difficulty they transported it to the dacha, where it stood for several years, annoying my mother, who, alas, does not appreciate modern art. Then there was an exhibition, for which Seryozha, again with great difficulty, took the exhibit from me. I put it up, and the work, of course, was lost. Chernov always does this.

He was explaining something, but we also have “Sputnik-tin can” and “Luna” – also the same. I was worried, but not too much.

So, at the current exhibition “Everything is Lost!” Chernov exhibited a tiny, very elegant model of this former bed. I wonder how much more Seryozha has missing at the exhibition? But the point is that even what seems to be irretrievably lost remains with us as part of a common history.