EXHIBITIONS

From Leningrad to St. Petersburg: 25 Years of Art

Selections from the Kolodzei Collection of
Russian and Eastern European Art

Painting, sculpture, photography, and new media
December 10, 2003 to January 17, 2004

Many special events

Igor Tiulpanov, Hamlet, 1995

In September of 1991 the residents of Leningrad (so named after Vladimir Lenin’s death in 1924) voted to restore its pre-revolutionary moniker. Thus those who lived in Leningrad instantly became residents of St. Petersburg. The Kolodzei Art Foundation is proud to showcase works by a selection of contemporary Leningrad and St. Petersburg artists. From Leningrad to St. Petersburg is dedicated to the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg. The exhibition is a selection of 60 works by 28 artists from the Kolodzei Collection of Russian and Eastern European Art and the International Association of Contemporary Russian Art Collectors, and is a visual exploration of the development and accomplishments of artists from St. Petersburg of the second half of the 20th century.

The artists, ranging in age from under forty to over seventy, represent several generations and stages in the evolution of nonconformist and independent art in St. Petersburg. The first group, the artists who began their careers at the time of Khrushchev's "Thaw" of the 1950's and took part in the first crucial, unofficial exhibitions, includes Mihail Chemiakin, Mikhail Koulakov, Igor Tiulpanov, Yakov Vinkovetsky, Khvost (Aleksei Kvostenko). Most of these artists now live and work abroad. The next group includes artists who participated in those initial exhibitions and others who became involved in the early 1980s: Anatolii Belkin, Leonid Borisov, Vadim Voinov, Georgii and Zhanna Kovenchuk, Vladimir Ovchinnikov, Gennadii Zubkov, Timur Novikov, and Mikhail Tserush. A final group is made up of artists from the younger generation, whose works date from the post-perestroika and post-Soviet periods, including Afrika (Sergei Bugaev), Ivan Olasiuk, and Dimitry Gerrman.

The works selected for this exhibition mark the tortuous progress from the beginning of artistic liberation in the post-Stalin years to the present time. We hope this exhibition will encourage viewers to find out more about the world of Russian Art.

The Kolodzei Art Foundation (KAFI) promotes the contemporary art of Russia and the former Soviet Union. KAFI, a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, has since 1991 arranged art exhibitions in museums, universities and cultural centers throughout the United States, Russia and Europe. KAFI also arranges Russian-American cultural exchanges, provides art supplies to artists in Russia and the former Soviet Union, and grants financial stipends to artists for the purpose of studying and working in the United States.

The Kolodzei Collection of Russian and Eastern European Art consists of over 7,000 paintings, drawings and sculptures by more than 300 artists from Russia and the former Soviet Union. The Kolodzei Collection chronicles four decades of Soviet and Russian non-conformist art, from the post-Stalinist era to the present. Works from the Kolodzei Collection have been shown in exhibitions throughout the United States, Europe, and Russia.  

For further information contact: Natalia Kolodzei
Kolodzei Art Foundation, Inc. 123 South Adelaide Avenue, # 1N
Highland Park, New Jersey 08904 Tel: 732-545-8425 Fax: 732-545-8428
kolodzei@KolodzeiArt.org www.KolodzeiArt.org