ARTinvestment.RU tells about one of the participants of the Third International Biennale of Contemporary Art - Russian artist Pavel Pepperstein

From September 25 to October 25, 2009 in Moscow will host third Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art. Among its members - a Russian artist and writer Paul Pepperstein (Pivovarov) .

Pepperstein was born in 1966 in Moscow. From 1985 to 1987 he studied at the Prague Academy of Fine Arts. Together with the young artists of the Odessa Sergei Anufrieva and Yuri Leiderman founded the group "Inspection" Medical Hermeneutics ", which became one of the the most significant events "mladokontseptualizma. In 1991, took place Leiderman Vladimir Fedorov.

«Medgermenevty" engaged in research tools and symbols of modern culture (in the broadest sense of the word), and they looked at it not from how classical conceptualism, as it were, being in its midst, in the maelstrom of all kinds of images. In his works - installations, graphics, performances, lyrics - artists created a wild, psychedelic world where a man falls upon the avalanche of the myths of modern society. "Medgermenevty" were the first who seriously studied the relationship of the Soviet conceptualism to the world of childhood (for Pepperstein this relationship has always been clear: his father, a famous artist, conceptualist Viktor Pivovarov , illustrated children's books and magazines, and her mother, Irina Pivovarova, a children's writer). The most famous creation of the group - a huge fantasy novel "Mifogennaya love castes". The first volume, with more than 1000 pages, was released in 1999. He tells about the fate of the party organizer Vladimir Dunayev, shell-shocked in the early days of World War II and ended up in the woods, where the only available food was psilocybin mushrooms. Obsessed by the desire to fight the Nazis, Dunaev to see hallucinations, in which the characters of Russian folk tales fought with heroes of fairy tales in Europe. This epic was written by Pepperstein and Anufrieva who wrote it for many years. Above the second volume, published in 2002, Pepperstein worked alone. Style artists have defined the novel as "psychedelic realism».

Among other literary works of Paul Pepperstein - "Dictionary of the Moscow conceptual school", a book of poems "The great defeat and a great vacation", "psychedelic" Detective "The Swastika and the Pentagon, a collection of horror stories" war stories "and other illustrations to the latter two books were exhibited at the exhibition" The Pentagon ", held in 2006 in the gallery" Regina ».

Pepperstein first solo exhibition titled "Sweet Darkness" was held in 1998 in Moscow gallery Obscuri Viri. In the same year started a project "Paul Pepperstein and guests", organized by the House of Arts Swiss city of Zug. For five years, the museum held an exhibition every year, most of which was organized in cooperation with well-known personalities from the world of contemporary art - Viktor Pivovarov, Boris Groys, Ilya Kabakov , a group of" Russia ».

In 2007 Pepperstein presented in" Regina "is one of the most notorious of their projects -" City of Russia ", in which he addressed the topic of preservation of cultural heritage of our country. He was sent to Putin, Luzhkov Matvienko and open letter, which stated that the destruction of the historical image of Moscow and St. Petersburg, entails the "death of the soul" of the two cities. For the bold architectural experiments Pepperstein suggested founding a new capital - the city of Russia. How should look like this metropolis, told exhibited in gallery pictures. According Pepperstein, capital must pay tribute to the great Russian avant-garde - namely, to build a giant multicolored skyscraper The Kandinsky Tower and the huge black cube »The Malevich Tower. In 2070 "will be included in a fashion house, crowned with giant heads of the living" in the 3014-m antenna will be installed to communicate with the dead, and in the 3098-meters in the city will be "a colossal statue-building," Grandma "" designed for air defense. Above the capital city will soar "sphere of Russian spirituality and a memorial rock with persons deceased Russian rulers.

In the same year the artist exhibited in the gallery" Regina "his early work - three albums that are created in the 1980's, before the appearance of Medgermenevtiki. The first album, "Observations" (1983-1984), devoted to works of the mentally ill. Each figure in it - an imitation of the style of the artist with a particular diagnosis. "Lenin" (1985-1986) - album of fantasy on the theme of how to look like Lenin on drawings by children, drug addicts, mentally ill, Soviet "unofficial" artists, etc. And "Images of Stalin" (1985-1986) - supposedly a caricature of fellow "Great Leader", which he had done during the meetings.

In January this year in "Regina" was an exhibition " or - or. Natssuprematizm - draft of a new representative style of Russia ». According Pepperstein, "it comes to style, which would have been conditioned by our embassies, offices of trade missions, Russian airlines, railway stations, buildings and premises of airports, festivals of Russia's culture and so on. The artist presented works in which Supremacist aesthetics played up in the spirit of ironic pop art: "Black Square" tramples can of soup Campbell; it is located in a baby carriage rolling down the stairs in one scene in the film "Battleship Potemkin", the red oval eats multicolored logo of the company Apple.

Paul Pepperstein became one of the participants the 53rd Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art. For project "Victory over the future" presented in Russia's pavilion , he gave a series of paintings "Landscapes of the Future", where image Suprematist spirit combined with incredible urban landscape. The artist also recorded a rap song - "a manifesto against the Contemporary Arts", which, in his opinion, is in the wake of the capital.

Whatever it was, but our site dedicated to investment the art, the subject of capital can not circumvent. It is time to talk about the auction results of the work Pepperstein. At a public auction of his work first appeared not long ago - in 2006. Most of the works of the artist (at auction appears in the main graph) bring the amount in the range from 1,5 to 3,5 thousand pounds sterling. The most expensive picture Pepperstein (in pounds) is "Seascape with the dollar," sold over 4 thousand pounds at Estimé 4.6 thousand. The record was set recently - June 9, 2009, at auction in London Sotheby's. Figure "Light my mirror, tell me who in the light of all the sweeter?", Which appeared on the same auction with the same estimate:, the buyer is not found.

Material prepared Yulia Maksimova , AI

Sources: gif.ru , snob.ru , russian-pavilion.info , aerofeev.ru , magazines.russ.ru/km/2003/2/grig.html , artinvestment.ru

PS On the third parties Moscow Biennale of contemporary art can be found:

third Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art . AES + F
third Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art. Christian Markle
third Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art. Yuri Albert
third Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art. El Anatsui
third Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art. Mikhail Grobman
third Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art. Tony Cragg