Dmitry Kawarga
Dmitry Kawarga is a mysterious artist, who never appears neither in photos nor on video. He conceals his age and education, mentioning just that he has got a professional theater-artistic education. We know from reliable sources that he never graduated from the art college. So why does he hide himself? He says: "The artist’s personality is inseparable from his creative process". It means that that the viewer does not need to know the artist personally, it is enough to be familiar with his works, which are his best representations.
While hiding his private life, the artist nevertheless is a permanent inhabitant of Internet, where he is widely published under the name of "biomorphic radical". This term he deciphers as follows: "I like to think of myself as of an experimental researcher, who exists inside his own experiments and is capable to materialize invisible psycho-physiological processes by bringing their tridimensional projections into reality".
The artist is engaged in such complex area of art as science art, or scientific art. Science art objects are usually a result of collaboration of artists and scientists. It is an installation and a scientific research at the same time, which often goals to popularize science. Among the pioneers of this art movement there is a sensational Australian artist Stelarc, who implanted a real ear under the skin of his hand. The ear is equipped with a microphone and a transmitter, so it is able to hear and to pass the signals to its owner. However, Dmitry Kawarga distances himself from the science art term, emphasizing that he creates his own original art.
Dmitry Kawarga began his artistic journey with traditional painting, which gradually became more prominent and finally turned into sculpture. The further experiments and researchs led him to interactive robotic sculptures. The artist creates his biomorphic sculptures from polymers, which can be formed into any shape. In his installations, he seems to be recreating the models of consciousness. Complex designs of his installations resemble enlarged neural networks of human brain. The beauty and complexity of the structures visualize the processes occurring in the brain cells. According to the artist, in his work he tries to materialize the processes of thinking, consciousness and subconsciousness.
The artist began to exhibit his works in 1988 at Malaya Gruzinskaya Gallery, which then exhibited Moscow Nonconformists, the most famous representatives of Russian art today. In 2001, he made a science-art project together with the Honored Inventor of Russia Vladimir Beshekov. Over the time, the artist’s installations became more complicated, knowledge-based and spatial. In 2012, Dmitry together with the specialists from the laboratory of robotics of The Polytechnic Museum created two “unidentified living objects”, which were unpredictably moving while being programmed on random numbers, and even went out of the creators’ control.
Despite the scientific academese of his art, Dmitry Kawarga doesn’t resemble a science-obsessed “mad professor”, rather the contrary. The artist lives in the suburbs of Moscow, calls his house "Kawarga Hall" and has lots of pets, mostly dogs that live in his yard surrounded by multiple outdoor sculptures.
Born in Moscow. Has a professional art education. Since 1988 has been participating in national and international exhibitions. Lives and works in Moscow.
Solo exhibitions
- 2012 – «Kawarga. Apocalypse. 21.12», Pop/off/art Gallery, Winzavod, Moscow;
- 2012 — «Paleo-Geo-Morphologies», Barbarian-art Gallery, Zurich;
- 2010 — «Topography of creative evolution» (Kulik’s Hair), Gridchin Hall, Moscow Area;
- 2010 — «Ouroboros», Brissot Gallery, Paris;
- 2009 — «Biostructures», Barbarian-Art gallery, Zurich;
- 2009 — «Coming into the theme", Pop/off/art gallery, Moscow;
- 2008 — «Trepanation of the Thought-forms», Pop/off/art gallery, Moscow;
- 2008 — «Photocompressing», "Mohovaja, 7" Business Centre, Moscow;
- 2004 — «Biomorphic radicalism in the destructive synthesis», Sam Brook gallery, Moscow;
- 2003 — «Retrospective Cut», Natural Science University, Moscow;
- 2002 — «Project 2x10», Callery À-3, Moscow;
- 2001 — Science-n-Art Project in cooperation with the Honored Inventor of Russia V. Beshekov;
- 1999 — «Saturated Landscape», Staraja Basmannja St.21, Moscow;
- 1998 — Expo in Beljaevo, Moscow;
- 1997 — Murals in Theatre «Perovskaja St.»;
- 1993 — Kashirka Gallery, Moscow.
Selected Group Exhibitions
- 2013 — Frontier, Sience-Art-Lab, L. Karpov Scientific Research Institute of Physical Chemistry, Moscow;
- 2013 — "GOSZAKAZ" /A Governmental Order/, CCA Winzavod & Pechersky Gallery, Moscow;
- 2013 — Exhibition of works of the nominees on Sergey Kuryokhin Modern Art Award in The Best Art Projects nomination, St. Petersburg;
- 2012 — «Way-road», Gallery ph_Manometr, ArtPlay, Moscow;
- 2012 — «Resonant Matter», The Russian Museum, Marble Palace, St. Petersburg;
- 2012 — «Open Innovations», international forum for innovative development Expocentre;
- 2012 — «Lexus Hybrid Art-12», ARTPLAY Design Center, Moscow;
- 2012 — TEDxParkKultury “Human 2 1 1 2” conference;
- 2011 — «Free spaces», Special project of 4 Moscow Biennale of contemporary art, ArtRu Agency on Ozerkovskaya embankment, 26, Moscow;
- 2011 — «Pro-Contra», International Symposium, Special project of 4 Moscow Biennale of contemporary art, ArtPlay, Moscow;
- 2011 — «Rewriting Worlds: Dada Moscow», Special project of 4 Moscow Biennale of contemporary art, ArtPlay, Moscow;
- 2011 — Art Moscow 15th International Art Fair, Barbarian-Art Gallery;
- 2011 — «Art Focus for Technologies: Charm and Challenge», Ural International Exhibition of Industry and Innovation "INNOPROM-2011", Ekaterinburg;
- 2011 — «The Life. The science version», Winzavod Contemporary Art Center, Moscow;
- 2011 — «New sculpture, Chaos and Structure», New Museum, St. Petersburg;
- 2011 — «Distortions of the Earth», ArtRu Agency, Moscow;
- 2011 — «A White on the White», ArtRu Agency, Moscow;
- 2010 —«Club 21», (Frieze parallel program), One Marylebone, St. Martin‘s Church, London (catalogue);
- 2010 —The Kandinsky Prize 2010, Central House of Artists, Moscow (catalogue);
- 2010 — Art Moscow14th International Art Fair, Barbarian-Art Gallery;
- 2010 — «A New Formalism», Museum of City sculpture, St. Petersburg (catalogue);
- 2010 —VOLTA 6, Basel, Switzerland (catalogue);
- 2010 — VIENNAFAIR, The International Contemporary Art Fair (catalogue), Vien, Austria;
- 2010 — «Reality metamorphoses, or Games with Time», Moscow Zverev's centre of contemporary art, Moscow;
- 2010 —"0,5" Jubilee exhibition, Pop/off/art gallery, Photos from the exhibition, Moscow, (catalogue);
- 2009 — «Proryv», OLYMPIISKY SPORTS COMPLEX, Moscow;
- 2009 — «New sculpture, Chaos and Structure», Soluyanka gallery, Photos from the exhibition, Moscow;
- 2009 — «Good News», OREL ART gallery, London;
- 2009 — Preview Berlin, Germany (catalogue);
- 2009 — Art Moscow 13 th International Art Fair, Pop/off/art gallery, Moscow;
- 2009 — VOLTA5, Barbarian-art gellery, Basel, Switzerland;
- 2009 — Basel Selection Artfair, OBOIMA Project Bureau gallery, Basel, Switzerland;
- 2009 — “Diffusion of Form Creation”, Night of Museums in The State Tretyakov Gallery and Sculpture Park, Moscow;
- 2009 — Europ'Art-09, Geneva, Switzerland;
- 2009 — BridgeArtFair, New York, USA (catalogue);
- 2008 — «Invasion : Evasion», BAIBAKOV art projects, «Red October», Moscow (catalogue);
- 2008 — Art-Miami, Vynvud, Miami, Florida, USA (catalogue);
- 2008 — «Cyberfest», Youth Educational Centre of State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (catalogue);
- 2008 — «Power of Water», State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, (catalogue);
- 2008 — «Tunguska meteorite», The meteorite fall 100 years ago, Krasnoyarsk;
- 2008 —«Art About Mortality», in memory N. Konstantinova, Rostov on Don, (catalogue);
- 2008 — «Sleeping district», ArtMarin gallery, Moscow;
- 2007 — 7th Krasnoyarsk Biennial 2007, Krasnoyarsk;
- 2007 — 1st prize in “Monument” Competition, Art4.ru;
- 2007 — Work is exhibited at a show-window of a museum ART4.RU;
- 2005 — Art Manezh, Moscow;
- 2004 — Art Moscow 8th International Art Fair, Sam Brook Gallery’s stand;
- 2004 — «World of War», Museum Of Decorative Art;
- 2003 — «The Size Does Matter», Central House of Artists, Moscow, (catalogue);
- 2003 — «Object and Thing», Museum Of Decorative Art, Moscow;
- 1997 — «Action Initiation», Dominanta Art Laboratory, Moscow;
- 1997 — «Bleeding of Spring» Malaya Gruzinskaya, Moscow;
- 1996 — Art Moscow 2th International Art Fair, Dominanta gallery, Moscow;
- 1996 — Art Manezh, Moscow;
- 1994 — «Fun-Art», Central House of Artists, Moscow;
- 1992 —Hammer Group, Manezh, Moscow;
- 1992 — «Golden Brush», Central House of Artists, Moscow;
- 1992 — Hammer Group, Kiev;
- 1991 — Exhibition of Malaya Gruzinskaya Gallery at Manezh, Moscow;
- 1991 — «Space and Spirit», Central House of Artists, Moscow, (catalogue);
- 1991 — Hammer Group, Central House of Artists, Moscow;
- 1988 — «In Memory of Pjatnitzky”, Malaya Gruzinskaya , Moscow (catalogue);
- 1988 — «Labyrinth», Palace of Youth, Moscow.
The works are presented in the following collections:
- Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art, St. Petersburg;
- Museum of Contemporary Art ART4.RU, Moscow;
- Ecological Museum of local history, Muravlenko, Russia;
- Krasnoyarsk Museum Center, Krasnoyarsk, Russia;
- Pop/off/art Gallery, Moscow.
