Vasily Slonov (17 September 1969) is a Russian political artist.[1][2] He lives and works in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia.[3][4]

Slonov gained fame in the west in 2013 when his exhibition of Welcome! Sochi 2014 was shut down by the Russian authorities and the Perm Museum of Contemporary Art director sacked.[5]

Life and work edit

Slonov was born on 17 September 1969 in the village of Shushenskoe, Shushensky District of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia.[6][3] In 1984 he became a student of the Department of Design at Surikov Krasnoyarsk College of Arts.[6][3] Between 1988 and 1990 he did military service in the Soviet Army.[3]

In June 2013 Slonov's Welcome! Sochi 2014, which satirised the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, was to be exhibited as part of the White Nights citywide arts festival in Perm, organised by Marat Gelman. The authorities shut down the show shortly after its launch but Gelman moved it to Perm Museum of Contemporary Art, where it was also shut down. The authorities concluded that the works were extremist, and sacked Gelman.[7][8][9][10][11]

Exhibitions edit

  • 2015: Mosquitoes exhausting the oil, the blood of the Earth, installation on a bank of the Yenisei River, Krasnoyarsk, Russia, 25 February 2015 (ahead of the opening of the Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum, 26 February 2015).[12]
  • 2015: Quilted Cavaliers of the Apocalypse, 11.12 Gallery, Moscow.[13][14][15]
  • 2015: Erarta Contemporary Art Gallery, London.[16][17][18]
  • 2015: Quilted Heart and Cotton Bell / Russian Alarm Bell, 11th Krasnoyarsk Museum Biennale, Krasnoyarsk Museum Centre, Krasnoyarsk, Russia.[19]

References edit

  1. ^ Han, Jamie (25 February 2015). "Oil mosquitoes of Krasnoyarsk". Financial Times. London. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  2. ^ "Photos of the day: Oct. 25". The Wall Street Journal. 25 October 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d "Vasily Slonov". 11.12 Gallery. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  4. ^ Nelson, Sara (8 August 2013). "Sochi Winter Games 2014: Russian curator Marat Guelman 'fired for refusing to censor controversial art'". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  5. ^ Kennicott, Philip (7 February 2014). "Russian posters give powerful internal critique of Sochi Olympics". The Washington Post. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  6. ^ a b "Vasiliy Slonov". Erarta. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  7. ^ Muñoz-Alonso, Lorena (9 January 2015). "Russian dissident leaves for Montenegro, plans a new space". Artnet. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  8. ^ Mackinnon, Mark (15 August 2015). "Russia's brief, shining moment". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  9. ^ Grishina, Tatyana (12 December 2013). "Accounting for taste: The new head of Perm Museum of Contemporary Art speaks out". The Calvert Journal. Calvert 22 Foundation. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  10. ^ "Russian censors target Olympic-themed art ahead of Sochi 2014". NBCNews.com. 21 June 2013. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  11. ^ Shenkman, Yan (28 June 2013). "Perm authorities wage war on contemporary art". Russia Beyond the Headlines. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  12. ^ "What am I seeing?: Oil Mosquitoes". CBS News. 27 February 2015. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  13. ^ "Quilted cavaliers of the Apocalypse: Vasily Slonov". Moscow Contemporary Art Center Winzavod. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  14. ^ O'Flynn, Kevin (23 April 2015). "Russian artist creates special bribe envelopes for corrupt officials". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  15. ^ https://news.yahoo.com/photos/art-object-depicting-portrait-russian-president-putin-russian-photo-221338652.html [dead link]
  16. ^ Kalashnikova, Lara (8 June 2015). "Cartoons as a new language of Russian art". Russia Beyond the Headlines. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  17. ^ Salnitskaya, Vera (18 May 2015). "Controversial artist takes sarcastic Olympics exhibit to UK". The Siberian Times. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  18. ^ "Russian art week. Maxim Boxer. Cartoon - like Archived 2015-11-19 at the Wayback Machine", Russian Maecenas, 16 April 2015.
  19. ^ Ilya Naymushin, "Russian artist Slonov performs at the 11th Krasnoyarsk Museum Biennale", Reuter, Yahoo News, 1 October 2015.

External links edit