April 9 opened its doors to the exhibition "Rama" Oleg Kulik in the gallery "Regina».

This is a new project, perhaps the most controversial and brilliant representative Contemporary Russian art. And the first in Russia after a rather long pause. Previous exhibition of Oleg Kulik «Deep into Russia» took too long ago, in October 2012, also in "Regina", but it was in London.

in a respectable man, giving interviews in support of his new project, it is difficult to find a "man -dog ", many years ago is striking in its fierce and uncompromising dedication to Moscow, Europe and America. Kulik has come a long way in its search for a new expressiveness and language arts.

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Oleg Kulik was born April 15, 1961 in Kiev. He studied at the art school in 1982, he graduated from the Kiev College of Geology and even participated in several expeditions. In 1984-1986 he served in the Red Banner of the Taman Division, and today it is recognized that his service in the army triggered the current perception of art. Since 1986 he lives and works mainly in Moscow.

In the work of Kulik went through many phases - from the visual arts and curatorial Actionism to large-scale projects and opera productions. But in each of its incarnations manifested itself primarily as an absolute master of shocking.

So, at the end of 1980 Sandpiper young artist experimented with transparency, "cut glass", creating a transparent work. By 1989, it is a manifesto of transparency.

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«idée fixe, which I developed in the 1980s, was the fact that the art can not overshadow life. Then I was obsessed with the search for forms of glass, which would make it unlimited. I looked at the glass and through it, trying to identify its presence ...

... I think that art should not overshadow the life of the audience, on the contrary, in the feature should be presented more harmonious life. When I first felt strongly death - I was in the army beat - a sense of the fragility of life. I pursued the idea that we are not fenced off from each other, and I began to make glass and look through them ...

... When wanted to tell the world about their observations, I invited one of the most important critics and curators in the 1980 workshop. And after two hours of drinking tea in my basement with the critic Vitaly Patsyukovym I hear, "Oleg, where's your work?" - "Here are they, in front of your eyes!" And he did not see them. I was talking about his manifesto transparency ».

In the desire to expand the boundaries of art, or at least see how far they extend, that is able to understand how surrounding his statements He was trying to get people involved, the street, the daily routine into their projects by mid-1990, these efforts took shape performances invading the lives of others. It appeared his naked "man-dog", which first walked through the streets on a leash and defended his master - the poet Brener, then the action became more conceptual, "dog" was torn loose and not let the people in the gallery, because art requires sacrifice. And then the project has gone beyond Russia's actions and gained universal popularity. And now the "man-dog" bite visitors in Sweden and is sitting in a cell in the United States, with interest looking at those brave souls who dare to enter the cell.

Oleg Kulikov I bite America, and America is biting me number 8. 1997 photo. 87 x 125 Source: reginagallery.com

In the late 1990s, with the "dog" is over, but it was an interest in animals. Again Kulik is at the junction - now living and nonliving. His series "Monkey" is really about: the artist saw his task was to take pictures of stuffed monkeys as if they were alive.

Oleg Kulikov Monkeys. 1998 Source: gif.ru

Embodying the best way to the beginning of the century view of the world of the famous Russian, Kulik made stuffed tennis, astronaut and author, with This was trying to repeat as they look Anna Kournikova, Yuri Gagarin, and Leo Tolstoy. « I did as a great writer taksidermirovannye figures, athletes and cosmonauts. It was a kind of boundary between the living and the dead. People thought that I taksidermiroval living people, and the seams are a kind of proof that it was a living ». In these works, Kulik made inanimate prohibitive even for naturalism like a living thing. And then he left the rough seams - whether to destroy the viewer with an eerie illusion that it once was inanimate alive, or vice versa ...

Oleg Kulikov tennis player. 2002 Source: ec-dejavu.ru

In the mid-2000's spiritual quest led him to the East - in Mongolia and Tibet, and after - in Latin America and India. Welcome back from his travels art vector changes: it goes from outright outrageous, trying to hook, shock the man so that he remembered for a long time, in any way cause a deep response to any color (not necessarily positive, as long as he was, and strong). His method of impact on the viewer becomes more subtle and conceptual. Now, he speaks the language of associations and allusions, with an emphasis on esoteric. More and more in recent years his work has a religious theme: an appeal to the pagan cult, the curatorial project "Believe!" Exhibition "Rama", the opera by Claudio Monteverdi's "Vespers of Our Lady» (Vespro della Beata Vergine) in the Paris theater "Châtelet" on the occasion of the centenary of Diaghilev's seasons.

Opera "Vespers of the Virgin Mary." Theater "Chatelet», Paris, 2009 Source: os.colta.ru

« Art, like the heart, can not be controlled. Once the mind begins to control the heart, the man immediately dies », - said Kulik, and this maxim is built all of his work.

Kulik - a permanent member of the leading exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale, Istanbul and Sao Paulo, exhibitions in Paris and Vienna, Barcelona and Kyoto, New York and Cologne, "Art Moscow", held many solo exhibitions and participated in group exhibitions in galleries and museums around world. He exhibited not only performance, but also as a photographer and author of the photo collages.

the same role, and it is present in the auction market. In AI-based registered 9 of his work, mostly photographs. In 2008 in Moscow, the auction house "Sovcom" has sold his photograph "Mongolia" for 14,000 euros, while the majority of the highest prices are for 2011-2012. His meter diaseki and traditional photo recently sold in the range of 7-9 thousand dollars. A record belongs to the spectacular work of "Girl in the swamp", which was sold November 27, 2012 by auction house Sotheby's for 20,000 pounds.

Oleg Kulikov Mongolia. 2005 photo. 50 x 120 Estimate: 183,000 rubles Result: 14,000 euros Sovcom. 17.03.2008. Lot 48 Source: artinvestment.ru

Oleg Kulikov A girl in a swamp. 1997 color photo, diasek. 120 x 198,5 Sothebys. 27/11/2012. Lot 350 Estimate: 10 000-15 000 pounds Result: 20,000 pounds Source:

the domestic gallery market in affordable price range you can buy, for example, the lottery drawing Oleg Kulik. Gallery owners say that the artist is very conscientious about their print runs, so for things published, for example, 30 copies, not so long ago, asked 1,200 euros more expensive.

Maria Kuznetsova, AI

Sources: reginagallery.com , interviewrussia.ru , mn.ru , azbuka.gif.ru , kommersant.ru , os.colta.ru , artinvestment.ru