Visitors to the Target Gallery have described the new exhibit there as if it were a recollection — a half-remembered vision obscured by the mists of time and veiled through a gauze of nostalgia. The work of four contemporary Moscow artists combine to form “Visions from Russia,” and the experience is authentic enough to create an instant sense of place.
“We had one woman who came in here from Moscow, and she knew instantly what the exhibit was about,” said J.D. Garn, director of the Target Gallery. “Most people very quickly recognize the Russian landscapes.”
The show, which will be at the gallery through Aug. 26, is part of a cultural exchange program between the Embassy of Russia and the Friends of the Torpedo Factory. The partnership began at the Wisconsin Avenue Northwest embassy building, which was the scene of a glamorous fundraising event for the Friends of the Torpedo Factory. Now the works of the four Russians artists have been installed for a month-long exhibit at the Target Gallery — one that incorporates the haunting themes of childhood and retrospection.
“A lot of them seem like memories,” Garn said. “Many of the pieces have a subdued quality to them.”
As gallery employees greet guests and chat about the work, several common impressions emerge. The sculptures and paintings seem to send a unified message from Russia with an unmistakable melancholy. The distinctive architecture and snow-swept terrain simultaneously reveal a distant coldness and an emotional warmth.
“There’s a nostalgia to them,” said Catie Hancher, assistant director of the gallery. “It’s like a love letter.”
FOUR ARTISTS are featured in the show: Yuri Bondarenko, Iskander Ulumbekov, Eugene Vereschagin and Vladmir Zorin. Their work was selected by curator Luba Taubvurtzel, a Russian art consultant who was selected by the embassy to put together the exhibit.
“These artists work in a style that is influenced by Russian realism,” Taubvurtzel said. “These are techniques that are very traditional in Russian art schools.”
Taubvurtzel said the selected artists display a wide variety of talents and perspectives as recent as Russian realism and as ancient as Byzantine iconography. In combination, their works show the changing face of Russia in a post-Soviet world that is rediscovering its religious traditions and folklore. As a result, she said, the works are able to speak to the past in a way that is cutting edge in Moscow art circles.
“The art chosen for this exhibition celebrates the flourishing creativity of the Moscow art community that has reached new artistic heights since the fall of the Soviet Union,” Taubvurtzel said. “Since perestroika first cracked the cultural iron curtain, Moscow artists have exhibited to enthusiastic audiences in the art capitals of the world including Paris, Barcelona, New York City and Washington, D.C.”
THE FIRST PIECE visitors will see is Bondarenko’s “Cathedral of Nativity,” a painting that illustrates the Russian rediscovery of religion that was officially banned under the Soviet Union. The setting of the painting is Suzdal, a small village several miles northeast of Moscow that dates back to 1024. Before the Russian Revolution of 1917, Suzdal was a religious center — with several monasteries and a remarkable ratio of churches to citizens.
“At one point, Suzdal had forty churches for 400 families,” Taubvurtzel said. “Today, the town operates as an important tourist center, featuring many fine examples of old Russian architecture — most of them churches and monasteries.”
Two other pieces that will undoubtedly grab visitors’ attention are a related pair of paintings toward the back wall of the gallery — “Evening in the Forest” and “Morning in the Forest” by Ulumbekov. The paintings feature pensive teddy bears peaking from around a rock and an overall-wearing mouse holding a lantern. Although many guests will assume that the later is Micky Mouse, Taubvurtzel said that the artist used a toy his son calls “Gaga” as the model for the painting.
“The style and philosophy of the paintings by the artists of this group are strongly influenced by the traditional Russian realism, late 19th century French experiments as well as exploration of color in later Russian impressionist painting,” Taubvurtzel said. “Although their works are vastly different they all emulate the methods and approach of the great masters of the past.”