Join us for the opening of Acting Out, the first solo UK exhibition by Russian artist Pavel Otdelnov. Acting Out is a new series of works created specifically for Pushkin House’s historic premises, which present a critical commentary on the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe associated with the war in Ukraine and reflect on how the identities of the Russian people are changing throughout the course of the war in Ukraine – both those who remain in the country and those who have managed to leave.
Acting Out builds on Otdelnov’s original studies for larger works presented at Sweden’s Kalmar konstmuseum (25 May–28 August 2022). This new iteration is facilitated by Pushkin House and is part of our mission to support independently minded Russian creatives at this time.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
The show comprises several conceptual elements, starting with Ressentiment, which unites paintings themed around the Soviet Union, its failed attempts at monetary reforms and the destruction of its military potential. Otdelnov builds on Friedrich Nietzsche’s notion of “ressentiment”, an instinctive psychological reaction to suffering fuelled by a desire for revenge that involves the belief that someone or other is responsible for the suffering that causes it. As such, the works communicate the rootedness of Russia’s recent propaganda in the feeling of injustice at the outcome of the Cold War, which led to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the loss of its “superpower” status.
Meanwhile, Generation directly addresses the artist’s contemporaries: those people who bravely took to the streets to protest against the war and police brutality, and to demand change and fair elections. Over 16,000 people have been detained in Russia since 24 February 2022, while hundreds of thousands have have left the country for good. This raw and timely selection of works focuses on the relatively underreported battle against those that have opposed the Russian state’s regime most recently and over the past few decades.
The exhibition concludes with The Beautiful Afar, an idiomatic phrase in Russian culture which references a fictitious place of idyllic, carefree life and prosperity. Dedicated to those who might feel nostalgic toward the Soviet utopia, this section acts as a direct commentary on the sentiment of constructed memory of the past that continues to co-exist alongside the realities of contemporary life in, and sometimes outside of, Russia.
Acting Out will be held in Pushkin House until January 2023.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Pavel Otdelnov was born in 1979 in Dzerzhinsk, Russia. He graduated from the Moscow State Academic Art Institute named after V. I. Surikov and the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Moscow. Since 1996, Otdelnov has shown widely in Russia and abroad, in both public and private contexts. In 2022, he had solo shows at Uppsala Art Museum, Uppsala, and at Kalmar Art Museum, Kalmar. From 2011–2012, he had a series of solo shows in Spain: at Casa de los Picos, Segovia; Juana Frances Hall, Madrid; Museo Casa Natal de Cervantes, Alcala de Henares; and the Cultural Center Quinta del Berro, Madrid. He has also taken part in exhibitions at MG+MSUM, Ljubljana; the Maritime Centre Vellamo, Kotka; Frederiksborg Castle, Copenhagen; Ljungberg Museum, Ljungby; Erarta Gallery in New York and Shtager Gallery in London.
In 2021, Otdelnov became the Finalist of the Kandinsky Prize, nominated for the Project of the Year. In 2017, he became a Laureate of the Sergey Kuryokhin Contemporary Art Award (Special Prize of the French Institute). In 2020, he became the Winner of the Innovation State Prize in the nomination Artist of the Year. In 2020, Otdelnov was named Artist of the Year by Cosmoscow Foundation.
Otdelnov’s works are in the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow), the State Russian Museum (St Petersburg), Uppsala Art Museum (Uppsala), the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (Moscow), the Institute of Russian Realist Art (IRRA, Moscow), the National Centre of Contemporary Art (NCCA, Moscow), the Pushkin Museum (Moscow), Sergey Kuryokhin Modern Art Museum (St Petersburg) as well as in public and private collections worldwide.