The Pushkin Museum received the gift of the work of the Italian artist Fabrizio Plessi Automatic translate

The Pushkin Museum. A.S. Pushkin received as a gift the work of the Italian artist Fabrizio Plessis, whose exhibition "Soul of a stone" Held at the Pushkin Museum until August 5.

The Pushkin Museum, in the framework of the Pushkin XXI direction, continues to form a collection of media art, analogues of which do not exist in Russia. The new collection includes works created on the basis of exhibits of the museum’s collection, site-specific projects and works that conceptualize classical art, using the latest technologies. It will include the works of classics and contemporary artists working in the field of media, video and performative art. The collection already includes the trilogy of the Russian art group Provmyza (Sergey Provorov and Galina Myznikova) Despair (2008), Inspiration (2010) and Eternity (2011).

One of the pioneers of media art, the artist Fabrizio Plessis donated two works to the museum: a video installation “Vertical Seas” and a sketch for a video installation “Riddle of Farewells”. The first work is a video with the image of flowing water, which seems to be trying to leak out of the screen, but is limited by the screen plane, like an aquarium wall. Graphic works depict a boat cut from a large tree trunk. Ten monitors are mounted in the boat, demonstrating the movement of water.

Similar video sculptures were shown at the Kestner-Gesellschaft Museum in Hanover in 1999 and at the Correr Museum in Venice in 2001. In 2009, Plessis participated with a large video installation, The Riddle of Farewells, at the LIII Venice Biennale. The artist presented a whole flotilla consisting of boats with monitors installed in them, depicting electronic waves. The exhibition was held in Ca d’Oro and was part of the exposition "Soul of Water", organized in collaboration with the American artist Bill Viola. The motive of water has become the main for the creativity of Plessis since 1968. He addresses this topic in installations, films, videos and performances. The creation of each project is preceded by a preparatory phase. The artist travels a lot, "collects" impressions and makes hundreds of sketches of objects from which a new work will be composed in the future. An example of a project is a sketch donated to the museum.

Artist Fabrizio Plessis tries to overcome the line between art and science, between nature and technology, combining natural and digital elements. Plessy has the ability to humanize technological tools, turning them into carriers of emotions and concepts, and at the same time revitalize the story, giving the viewer the opportunity to openly read the connections of the past and present.

Especially for the exhibition "Soul of Stone" in the Pushkin Museum im. The artist created 16 video sculptures by A.S. Pushkin, which are shown in dialogue with works from the collection of casts representing the masterpieces of Greek art, as well as the art of Ancient Rome and Italy. This is not the first work experience of Fabrizio Plessis with the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. A.S. Pushkin. In May 2017, as part of the parallel program of the 57th Venice Biennale, the first international project was presented, created under the auspices of the Pushkin XXI direction - “Man as a Bird. Images of travel ”, where Fabrizio Plessis showed the work of Ca ’d’Oro (Golden House) - installation with a wooden boat.

Olga Shishko, head of the department of film and media art of the Pushkin Museum. A.S. Pushkin, curator of the direction "Pushkin XXI":

The presented works of Plessis will undoubtedly enrich the young collection “Pushkin XXI” and give it uniqueness, since they help to reconsider the museum’s vision in its classical representation, offer a dialogue between the artist and architecture, between history and modernity, inviting us to a journey-reflection on the eternal. Plessy often uses the image of a boat in her works, as in the work “Vertical Seas” donated to the museum. Thus, the work of Plessis with the images of the art of the past turns out to be a way of navigating in the present and striving to carry the emotional and intellectual values ​​of our present life into the future. Thus, the collection of the Pushkin Museum. A.S. Pushkin will be enriched with new meanings, and history will take a step forward.

Marina Loshak, Director of the Pushkin Museum. A.S. Pushkin:

The mission of the “Pushkin XXI” direction is to present the great achievements of world art culture in a combination of classical art with modern art. This is a kind of reference encyclopedia of contemporary art, a creative laboratory that allows you to find new ideas in the synthesis and interdisciplinary context, as well as a platform for dialogue and cooperation in the field of contemporary art that unites world museums. We are pleased to receive Fabrizio Plessi’s work in our collection. His ability to reveal familiar images, to give them a new life in the space of the museum is truly unique.

The Pushkin XXI collection will be presented at the Cosmoscow international contemporary art fair, which will be held in Gostiny Dvor on September 6 - 9, 2018.