SELECTED | ANDREY LUBLINSKY

Solo Exhibition | LUCH Gallery
1 July – 14 August, 2023

Andrey Lyublinsky creates unique universes inhabited by mythological creatures. The artist is known for his public art and prints, widely distributed as a popular merch. He is famous for his scandalous and memorable characters - the Red Men (Museum of Contemporary Art, Perm) as the first ones were continued by the series "Who are they?" (Bosko-VESNA, Novy Arbat, Moscow).

The solo exhibition at LUCH gallery presents the interior line of his work: lenticular printing, wood printing, plasticization, sculptures of "home" format made of marble, wood and metal, bas-reliefs, carpet. This small yet full of images retrospective exhibition combines works of ten series that have their own distinctive and very recognizable features: GoodBad, Quiet Pasture, Kazimir's Adventures, Simple Landscapes, "The Way I See It" etc. The characters of the new series "Sportsmen" for the first time are presented at the exhibition.

Lublinsky makes his research of the language of popular culture, works at the intersection of contemporary art and design, he blurs the borders between "artistic gesture" and design, continues the directions and researches of suprematism and pop art. Due to his regular work with vector graphics and 3D objects the artist came to the idea to develop "universal constructors" that allowed him confidently invade into the most diverse spheres of both traditional and contemporary art.

SIMPLE LANDSCAPES

This is a series of landscapes reduced to graphic minimalism, based on the most trivial photographs of tourist views of cities found on Internet. Despite a certain amount of generalization, the images easily reveal familiar architectural forms and characteristic features of the urban landscapes. Making his research of the languages of popular culture, the artist consistently blurs the borders between so-called contemporary art and design, "artistic gesture" and construction.

THE WAY I SEE IT | MEMORIALS TO D.TRUMP, K.SOBCHAK, A.PUSHKIN

One of the main problems of urban environment development is conservatism, fear of anything new and lack of dialogue. The fixation on certain values of the majority does not take into account the demands of the minority, which, in turn, is looking for new places to live. It affects directly the presentation of visual culture, thanks to which, among other things, the image of modern cities is being formed.

The installation consists of a series of objects that look like primitive images of a human (little man), reminiscent of children's drawings. Any passerby, being a casual viewer, can draw "as good", it does not require special skills, this is - in a wide sense - a work without authorship. Even the name is a well-known cliche. Anyone can name (identify) a character, seing almost anyone in it. Thus, the artist being on the same level with the viewer, invites him to join the creative process, to be a co-author. In this regard, we could recall the ideas of total art, which included the claim to abolish art. This was best expressed in a phrase written on badges popular with American youth and intellectuals of the 60s: "Art is all over" (the phrase has a double meaning: "Art is everywhere" and "Art is over completely").

THE ADVENTURES OF KAZIMIR

"The Adventures of Kazimir" is an endless homage to the famous painting by Malevich. Small changes made and the plot of the work acquires new meanings, and the character begins to live his own life. The project can exist either in the form of a giant collage poster or individual portraits, or in video format, where the characters not only come alive, but also make different sounds.

WHO ARE THEY?

Where did they came from nobody knows for certain, who they are is also a mystery. As part of his new project Andrei Lyublinsky created an army of colorful characters with obvious anthropomorphic features – they are all equipped with colorful legs. Despite the bright individuality of each character, they are all united, first of all, by underlined stability, the presence of their own point of view and the desire to be themselves. Dispite all conventions and geometry, objects are friendly and tune the audience up for a positive perception of multicolored images.

QUIET PASTURE

In this series the author creates another universe populated by mythological zoomorphic creatures. All of them are colorful and bright, many of them have two heads, like a Push-Pull from a famous fairy tale. Combined of simple geometric shapes, the characters look like they came out of an old computer game, as if they could fly, jump, crawl and swim. Neither good nor evil they just continue to live their own lives, beyond our knowledge of them.

NEUF VOITURES BRULANTES | NINE BURNING CARS

The direct impulse for the project came from the well-known events that took place in 2005 in France, when residents of the Arab quarters of Paris and other cities plunged into fear and awe a prosperous European country, putting it on the edge of civil war. One of the most powerful and effective way to influence the calm consciousness of the bourgeoisie was explosion and arson of cars, which burst into flames on TV screens all over the world. The bouts of rage and anger of the rebellions crashed on cars. The car as the most common cultural symbol of the society of consumption became a target for immigrants from the third world countries, nowadays representing a real revolutionary power.

RED PEOPLE

Red People is a module system, a constructor for building an anthropomorphic object-character. Such constructor allows not only to manipulate compositional elements, but also to penetrate beyond the time frame, the boundaries of trends and genres of art. Being a universal module, a kind of "viral object", the "Red Man" can act almost in any context, being not only placed in the context, but fully integrated in it.

In the image of the "red man" the artist accumulates the motives of the work of various iconic authors — Malevich, Rodchenko, Giacometti, Haring, Hayek, Gormley etc.

CUBISM

The author has developed a module system and made ten zoomorphic characters, bright and recognizable (crocodile, hare, bear etc.). As in previous works, the artist explores the expressive possibilities of a standard module, from which various figures are assembled. The ironic name of the project confirms playful and naive cubism, which, unlike the cubism of Picasso and Braque, does not complicate the form, but simplifies it.

ANONYMOUS

The guide hero of the project is a conditional faceless character “Anonymous”, which resembles the park decorative sculptures of the Soviet time, characters from paintings by Malevich and a basic anonymous userpic of a user of a social computer network. The work is a flashback of the bygone era, a kind of author's vision of its visual codes.

SPORTSMEN

The installation "Sportsmen" is an homage to the painting of the same name by Kazimir Malevich. The painting "Sportsmen" is one of the most recognizable works by the artist. The portrayed figures are fully subordinated to the task of color and rhythmic organization of the composition, alienated from the real meaning of existence, and aimed at the concentration of dynamics and energy.

Originally four 7-meters high objects were made as public art for the new stadium in Kaliningrad. At the exhibition an interior version is presented.