RNA | VICTORIA IONINA-GOLEMBIOVSKAYA are delighted to announce that Alexander Ponomarev’s SubTiziano has been selected as a collateral event for the 53rd International Art Exhibition—La Biennale di Venezia, the oldest and most prestigious visual arts event in the world. SubTiziano will be curated by Victoria Ionina-Golembiovskaya and produced by the RNA Foundation and the Stella Art Foundation in collaboration with the Barbarian Art Gallery presented by Natasha Akhmerova and with the support of TSUM Art Foundation.
The project is a site-specific submarine installation surfacing on the Grand Canal, and marks the ninth stage in the cycle titled Utilization of Packs (1996–2009), an ongoing submarine project by Ponomarev.
Mary Mc Caughey ~ English Garden Lounging are supporting RNA with event presentation.
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Alexander Ponomarev is one of Russia’s most important contemporary artists. The artist represented Russia in the highly popular Russian Pavilion at the 52nd International Art Exhibition—La Biennale di Venezia with his installations Shower, Wipers and Wave. This time, at the 53rd International Art Exhibtion, Ponomarev is once more exploring the cultural waters of this key contemporary art exhibition, as well as the historical context of one of the most beautiful and mysterious cities of
Old Europe.
Ponomarev first visited Venice at the end of the 1970’s, when he was still a student at the Odessa Advanced Naval Engineering School. Even then the young man was greatly impressed with this maritime republic and its legendary image, inexorably associated with unruly elements, naval battles and the paintings of great masters. That early visit made a vivid impression on the young man and an indelible mark on his artistic soul. SubTiziano is a fitting return for the artist, this time in his own submarine.
Ponomarev is greatly under the influence of the legendary Venetian master painter Titian.
Re-emerging from the depths of this water-born city, Ponomarev is stressing his ‘sub’-standing: he is under the impression, under the influence of the great Venetian, who is actually one of the forefathers of this lively submarine.
Some years ago the artist began creating an oeuvre patterned after the concept of the Epiphany. To appear and to disappear: these two movements must alternate while observing a balance; otherwise, a catastrophe is inevitable. Every surfacing represents a new birth, and the restoration of the phenomenal ties with the world, which had been lost at the submerging stage.
Jean-Michel Bouhours
Defending both the artist’s right to be understood and his right to be misunderstood, a pack of submarine sea-wolves is patrolling the artistic domain, regularly surfacing to demonstrate the power of art: Ponomarev’s submarine fleet appears in the areas of artistic hyperactivity.
In their memory and imagination, many people regard the submarine as a terrible weapon. “How and why do I not write about my method of staying underwater for as long as one can stay without food? I do not reveal it to the public because of the evil nature of men who would use this method for killing at the bottom of the seas”, wrote Leonardo ad Vinci.
Former submariner Ponomarev did some reverse engineering: he sneaked into that secret and closed area, reclaiming the deadly weapon as an art object. With the aid of chromatism, he transformed a submarine into a medium of artistic interaction, stripping it of its main advantage: secrecy. Musing upon the great master Titian, the legendary conqueror of the colour element, who himself worked in 15th century Venice; the contemporary artist covered the surface of the submarine with colourful “negative” camouflage.
Having considered all possible options for surfacing and docking, the submariner-artist Ponomarev has chosen a predefined spot on the map, with the coordinates 45”26’03. 58” N 12”19’36. 90” E.
In the name of the artistic community, he will enter the waters of Venice and for several months change the landscape of the Grand Canal, against the backdrop of the sinking and surfacing facades of the Venetian palaces Ca’ Bernardo, Ca’ Foscari and Ca’ Rezzonico.
Ponomarev’s aquatic installation will be enhanced by onshore presentations of the artist’s drawings and photographs in the halls of Palazzo Ca’ Bernardo, in the Faculty of Anglo-American, Ibero-American and Slavic-Eastern European Studies of the Ca’ Foscari University.
A fully illustrated catalogue Alexander Ponomarev | SubTiziano will be published by the RNA Foundation and the Barbarian Art Gallery presented by Natasha Akhmerova to accompany the exhibition.
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RNA FOUNDATION +39 3460 803 414 (Italy) +44 7902 874 093 (UK)
Founder: Victoria Ionina-Golembiovskaya victoria@rnafoundation.com www.rnafoundation.com
SubTiziano Grand Canal
Univ
ersità Ca’ Foscari,
Dipar
timento di Americanistica, Iberistica e Slavistica,
Ca’
Bernardo, Dorsoduro 3199
3 June to 22
October
SubTiziano Round Table Artist Discussion
In the ar
tist laboratory at Ca’ Foscari. Alexander Ponomarev meets students
Hall B
, Ca’ Bernardo, Dorsoduro 3199
8 June 2009,
4pm. Free Admission.
Participating: Alexander Ponomarev, Giuseppe Barbieri, Chiara Bertola, John Bowlt, Nicoletta Misler. Moderator: Silvia Burini
For more information, interviews with Alexander Ponomarev, Victoria Ionina-Golembiovskaya, or images, please contact:
— Anna Belyaeva, Director RNA +39 3401 846 467 (Italy) anna@rnafoundation.com
— Elizaveta Butakova PR +44 784 183 90 33
press@rnafoundation.com www.rnafoundation.com
— Mary Mc Caughey, English Garden Lounging
+39 3455 979 142 (Italy) +44 7931 425107 (UK)
mary@englishgardenlounging.com www.englishgardenlounging.com
— Natasha Akhmerova, Director Barbarian Art Gallery
+41 79 368 02 68 info@barbarian-art.com www.barbarian-art.com
— Stella Art Foundation +7 495 691 34 07
info@safmuseum.org www.safmuseum.org
— For enquiries regarding press accreditation to the Venice Biennale please see
www.labiennale.org or call the Venice Biennale press office on +39 041 521 8849
— Further press materials can be downloaded from www.subtiziano.com
Notes to Editors:
— RNA (Russia New Art) Foundation was founded by Victoria Ionina-Golembiovskaya in 2008 to provide support and an international platform for many of the most powerful and creative personalities in the Russian art world. RNA is committed to supporting the artist with the realisation of highly ambitious artworks and projects and with their collaboration with museums, art galleries, dealers, auction houses, curators, critics and with other artists.
— RNA is dedicated to supporting the artist’s vision in the broadest context, beyond the traditional white walled exhibition spaces and in the presentation of work that really immerses the viewer not just in the work’s external appearance but in all its dimensions.
— Victoria Ionina-Golembiovskaya was born in Moscow in1981. She has curated exhibitions including the MiruMir (Peace for Peace) exhibition at Art Moscow in 2007, the Stanislav Groff lecture and art exhibition in the GazGallery, Moscow 2007 and Vibe, an exhibition of Russian contemporary art, at the Louise Blouin Institute, London in 2008.