On January 24, 2020, the Orlitsky vs. Tuzov exhibition will open at the GUM-Red-Line Gallery. It will be the first public “battle” between two young artists, Max Orlitsky and Ivan Tuzov, working in completely different genres and techniques.
As Hegel once wrote, the main thing in painting is color and the form of space restriction. Max Orlitsky is a painter in the Hegelian sense of the word since he uses color as a primary substance. The form of the painting is also important to him, so he often divides one artwork into several pieces.
Ivan Tuzov is the author of the post-Internet era. He uses pixelated images. Perception, focused on memes and icons, sets the visual paradigm of our time. The new symbolic structures are similar to hieroglyphs. Tuzov’s hieroglyphs are grotesque and ironic.
The austerity of one artist balances the critique of the other. Ivan Tuzov’s works desacralize the sublime Soviet space. The pieces by Max Orlitsky revive the concept of a Painting as spiritual knowledge and a ritual. The works of Tuzov and Orlitsky collide within the space of GUM. The fundamental difference between the two artistic systems is prominently underlined during the art battle.
An art battle is a new type of performance art. A duel involving brushes and paints visualizes competition: two artists fight one other to the glorious end. In the project Orlitsky vs., Orlotsky each time opposes another artist, «improving» the opponent’s work, while the a competitor does the same with Orlitsky’s artwork.
The art battle demystifies art production. The attention of the audience shifts from the object to the subject — from works to their creators. The general public is now allowed to observe the process of painting. The very gesture of applying paint to the canvas is presented to the viewer as artistic.
The exhibition occupies two halls, one of which houses works by Max Orlitsky, and the other pieces by Ivan Tuzov. The art battle will take place on stage during the vernissage. Two works created during the art battle will be permanently exhibited in the gallery after the opening. Three days after the opening, the edited video of the performance will be broadcast continuously on the gallery screen until the end of the exhibition.
Mikhail Sidlin curates the exhibition.
• The grand opening is on January 24, 2020, at 19:00.
• The art battle of Max Orlitsky and Ivan Tuzov will take place on January 24, 2020, from 19:00 to 21:00.
Mikhail Sidlin will be the presenter.
• The curator-led tour of the exhibition will take place on January 31, 2020.
• The exhibition runs until February 4, 2020.
Artists of Art Battle
Max Orlitsky
Ivan Tuzov
