September 25 in Moscow called The Third International Biennale of Contemporary Art. Among the participants - one of the most prominent figures in the Moscow conceptualism, Yuri Albert .

Albert was born in Moscow in 1959. In 1974-1977 he studied with artist Catherine Arnold. In 1977 he entered the art-graphic faculty of Moscow State Pedagogical Institute named after Lenin. In 1983, Albert became a member of the Municipal Committee of graphs, whose building on Little Georgia, 28 were «allowed» Exhibition of informal art.

Albert is a representative of the so-called «second wave» of Soviet conceptualism. In the early 1980's he was an active participant in the movement «APTART». This term for «private art» (apt. - an abbreviation of the English word apartment, «flat»), first emerged as a well-known novelist recalls Max Frye, «in a conversation [artists] Mikhail Roshal, Nikita Alexeev and Sven Gundlaha ». «APTART» - the so-called gallery, opened in the apartment Alekseeva. According to the same Fry, creative artists, exhibited in the gallery, united «particularly ironic attitude to art and the general spirit - not the heroic frivolity, not something frivolous heroism». «Ironic» - that's the first definition that comes to mind when getting acquainted with the works of Yuri Albert. Among his most famous works of the early period - the picture painted in the style of famous Western artists, with inscriptions in Cyrillic letters like «I do not Jasper Johns», «I do not Baselitz», etc. If an artist living in the West, these paintings were probably would label Appropriation art - «Art of Drawing» .

Irony in Alberta - with a tinge of sadness. According to him, today's artists (and viewers) grow up with the idea that art is now, and have - contemporary, and the first, even to him, and all seek, is impossible. Many of Alberta represent an inscription on a white canvas - one of them, created in 1986, says «It would be nice to make a picture that all gasped ..!» But a time of great paintings, according to the teachings of the fathers of conceptualism Joseph Kosuth (Joseph Kosuth), and group Art & Language, irretrievably gone, so the only thing that remains the artists - to make a critical comment about the art, its production and consumption.

Many opponents of conceptual art explains his dislike of the fact that such work does not require much effort - they say that the great masters of painting sometimes wrote their masterpieces over the years, «invested» in their body and soul, and conceptualist invented five minutes of an idea - and already a star. Albert ironically refuted this claim in the project «The works collected by Albert Yu» (1990-1991). A portrait of his fellow artists, made from children's puzzle, as well as collected puzzles with reproductions of famous paintings, he showed that «conceptualism» and «hard work» - not so incompatible. Perception of art is devoted to performance «Mom, look, the artist!» (1990), for which Albert is situated in a park with a painter's case Tsaritsyno. Two years later, there was an exhibition, which displayed ten large paintings made from photos of the performance. Along with them were exhibited «Letters to his brother Theo» - more than 300 letters of Van Gogh, Albert copied by hand (with his own signature and date).

Letters of Van Gogh appear in another project of the artist - «Self-portrait with eyes closed» (1995). It's 88 descriptions of master paintings, taken from his letters to his brother - and Braille. Here the artist is drawn to the problem of «inner eye». Those who are not familiar with Braille, may perceive the work of Alberta as an aesthetic object, the creation of which required a lot of effort. This project is similar action in 2002, members of which were taken to the Tretyakov Gallery blindfolded. They themselves had to submit to the masterpieces, which the guide told them.

Somehow, Albert urged his audience to present the whole exhibition. The exhibition entitled «New degenerate art» (Neue Entartete Kunst) destined for the Baltic Biennale in Rostock. It was widely advertised, but came to the exhibition hall, visitors do not discover that it has nothing except the book reviews. These same materials - its text and «inner eye» art lovers - the artist used to create another work, «imaginary exhibition» in Moscow fund «Era» (2007). Albert put the idea of projects that have not been realized. For example, at the Moscow Biennale of 2005, he offered to participants of the event to choose the best of them. If that within two years he died, then by the artist, organizers of the Biennale would have to pay for his funeral.

«Ghost» Alberta works were shown at his personal exhibition «Art. Sculpture. Graphics », held in the Stella Art Foundation last year. For «graphics» replied redrawn and rewritten by hand the previous exhibition catalog. The illustrations did not reproduce the artist, depicting them instead of the dark squares. According to the artist, in this directory it took almost eight months. In addition to this work, in the Stella Art exhibited paintings - reproductions of cartoons Kukryniksy , dedicated to modern art ( «painting») and stretched over a hollow metal chain, dedication classic minimalist Carl Andre (Carl Andre), known for his compositions spread on the floor of square metal plates ( «sculpture »).

Yuri Albert now lives in two cities - in Moscow and Cologne. His works are included in the collection of the Russian Museum, Tretyakov Gallery and other museums in Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Finland, Hungary and the United States.

at a public auction appeared all three of Alberta, of which two found buyers. 25šÓÅÎÔÑÂÒÑ 2008šÇÏÄÁ «âÌÁÇÏÔ×ÏÒÉÔÅÌØÎÁÑ ÒÁÂÏÔÁ» (ÂÅÌÙÊ ÈÏÌÓÔ Ó ÞÅÒÎÏÊ ÎÁÄÐÉÓØÀ «äÅÎØÇÉ, ÚÁÐÌÁÞÅÎÎÙÅ ÚÁ ÜÔÕ ÒÁÂÏÔÕ, ÐÏÛÌÉ ÎÁ ÄÏÂÒÙÅ ÄÅÌÁ. óÔÁÌÁ ÌÉ ÏÎÁ ÏÔ ÜÔÏÇÏ ÌÕÞÛÅ?») ÐÒÉÎÅÓÌÁ 3,6šÔÙÓÑÞÉ Å×ÒÏ (ÐÏÞÔÉ 132,5šÔÙÓÑÞÉ ÒÕÂÌÅÊ) when evaluating 105 thousand rubles. 28 February the same year painting «Dispute III» went to Phillips de Pury for 14,9 thousand pounds sterling (estimate 3-4 thousand).

article prepared by Julia Maksimova, AI

Sources: gif.ru , kommersant.ru , artinvestment.ru

P.S. About the participants in the third Moscow Biennale can read:

AEC F

Christian Markle