The Art of Oleg Vassiliev surveys the career of one of the most important unofficial Soviet artists. This exhibition is the third in the series of remarkable one-man shows under the umbrella title Discovering Russian 20th Century Masters. The exhibition of Vassiliev’s works on paper includes the exciting House with the Mezzanine series, seven children’s books illustrated by Oleg Vassiliev and Erik Bulatov, as well as his six self-portraits where the artist explores the issues of identity and self-representation through visual means. Inspired by the personalities and settings of Anton Chekhov’s story “House with the Mezzanine,” this series of thirty metal-cut prints combines a critical revision of Soviet history with the ingenious graphics to create a progression of beautiful vignettes.

One of the most respected figures in Russian contemporary art, visual artist Oleg Vassiliev was at the inception of the Unofficial Artist Movement in the Soviet Union during the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s. This movement demonstrated disagreement with soviet society and government through artistic experimentation and non conformist work. For Vassiliev this meant combining Russian Realist style with that of the early Soviet avant-garde in studies of pictorial space and light. Vassiliev, who immigrated to the Untied States in 1990, continues to paint in his home studio in St. Paul. In 2012 the Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis held a retrospective of his work. Oleg Vassiliev was recently featured on TPT’s MN Original series.  Click here to watch.

The Art of Oleg Vassiliev
The Museum of Russian Art.
Minneapolis, MN

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NIELSEN METAL FRAMES

Profile: Nielsen Profile 117
Finish: black metal frame
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The POND is a body of work – vintage silver print photographs taken around and away from a pond situated in an unkempt, wooded area at the edge of a city. The images and the book of the same title present a foil to Henry David Thoreau’s stay at Walden. Gossage’s photographs reveal a subtle vision of reality on the border between man and nature. His nature is at once at odds with itself and with humankind, but the tone is ambiguous and evocative rather than didactic.<

Robert Adams described the work as ” believable because it includes evidence of man’s darkness of spirit, memorable for the intense fondness [Gossage] shows for the remains of the natural world.” The POND is an integral yet under-appreciated body of work belonging to the “New Topographic” movement, an important part of photography in the 1970s and 80s.  The book is available at the Aperture Foundation.

Also on view will be prints from a series called THE ROMANCE INDUSTRY, a haunting pictorial investigation into the modern day area around Venice, a solemn rumination, incorporating elements of man’s indifference and nature’s response.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

John Gossage (born New York, 1946 ) is known for his artists’ books and publications. He studied briefly with Lisette Model and Alexey Brodovitch in the 1960s and has exhibited worldwide. He has produced seventeen books and boxes on specific bodies of work and his photographs are held in numerous private and public collections , including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

“John Gossage: The Whole Pond and a Little Romance”
April 6 – June 3, 2012
Stephen Daiter Gallery
Chicago, IL

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METRO GALLERY FRAME

Standard Profile: 105
Type: Standard Gallery Frame
Wood & Finish: walnut wood frame with ebony finish
Purchasing Options: joined wood frame

Malick Sidibé’s (Malian, born 1935 or 1936) photographs offer a unique look at a time of political transition and cultural liberation. As Mali gained independence from France in 1960, the youth culture of music, dancing, and fashion exploded in this once-conservative West African nation and Sidibé’s ubiquitous lens chronicled it all. Photographing in nightclubs and at parties in the capital city of Bamako, Sidibé developed a uniquely loose and improvisational style that reflected the liveliness of the events.

Building on his status as a local celebrity, Sidibé opened the eponymous Studio Malick and further distinguished himself by inflecting the sincerity of studio portraiture with the energy and flash of the emergent youth culture. Through the use of props, pose, and attention to personality, Studio Malick not only fulfilled its clients’ aspirational dreams of self-presentation, but also transcended the immediate circumstances of 1960s and ‘70s Mali to present a nuanced study of human character.

Studio Malick
March 29 – June 3, 2012
DePaul Art Museum
Chicago, IL

FRAMING SPECIFICATIONS AND ADVICE

101 maple with clear finish

GALLERY FRAMES

Standard Profile: 101
Type: standard gallery frame
Wood & Finish: maple frame with clear lacquer finish
Purchasing Options: joined wood frame
Framing Advice: fitting gallery frames