exhibition

Ivan Korshunov
Surrogates

19 July 2023 — 08 October 2023
  • Ivan Korshunov. Surrogates

Erarta Museum presented an exhibition by Ivan Korshunov exploring the values and symbols of the consumerist society that has traded reality for its surrogates

  • 20 large-scale canvases painted in the traditional three-layer technique

  • Meticulously orchestrated compositions in which every detail is laden with meaning

  • Ambiguity of the modern world expressed through visual imagery

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Ivan Korshunov is one of the artists who use their painting practice to tap into the current reality. His new Surrogates project sees him explore the impact of virtual reality on the various aspects of human experience, zooming in on the all-pervasive spoofing of meanings and images in the modern information-driven world, and seemingly trying to visualise the prevailing notion of a simulacrum.

According to such French philosophers as Georges Bataille, Gilles Deleuze, and Jean Baudrillard, we have long been living in a time of total simulation, in a world of substituted concepts and meanings. The world around us is full of surrogates and simulacra and keeps changing on a daily basis. An endless stream of scenarios continues to condition our perception of reality. The global events of the recent years affect interpersonal and international relations, forcing us to reconceptualise our communication patterns and changing our habitual lifestyle. While we have adapted to many recent developments, others we still find difficult to digest.

Visually and technically, Ivan Korshunov’s project is divided into two clusters: the cheerful irony of the ‘golden background’ paintings is juxtaposed against the austerity of the ‘dark background’ ones, outwardly reflecting the ambiguity and fluidity of the modern world. The semantic space of some of the canvases painted two years ago is enriched with new, currently relevant meanings and is bound to find new interpretations.

about the artist
Member of the Moscow Artists’ Union, Art History PhD, participant of dozens of art auctions with 14 solo exhibitions standing to his credit, Ivan Korshunov was born in 1983 in Moscow. In 2003, he graduated from the Institute of Contemporary Art (Moscow), and in 2007, obtained a degree from the Vasily Surikov Moscow State Academic Art Institute. Ivan Korshunov features in many prestigious art ratings. For instance, Ivan was included in ARTEEX data portal’s best contemporary Russian artists list and was rated among the 20 best-selling contemporary Russian artists under the age of 45 according to the 2020 auction sales reports compiled by InArt Agency for Forbes Life. Korshunov’s solo exhibitions were staged in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Riga, and Beijing. His artworks are housed in private collections in Russia, UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, and Latvia, as well as in the collections of the Novosibirsk State Art Museum and the National Museum of China in Beijing.
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