Russian Artist, Slava Mogutin, Presents IN THE NAME OF LOVE Exhibit, Now thru 9/21
By: BWW News Desk Aug. 02, 2013
In The Name Of Love, a solo exhibition by Russian artist, Slava Mogutin, will showcase a series of 24 medium format portraits produced by the artist as traditional analog C-prints, the exhibit will run today, August 2-September 21.Artist talk: August 2nd, 5 pm
Opening reception: August 2, 6-11 pmBorn in Siberia, in the industrial city of Kemerovo, Mogutin moved to Moscow as a teenager. He soon began working as a journalist for the first independent Russian publishers, newspapers and radio stations. By the age of 21, he had gained both critical acclaim and official condemnation for his outspoken queer writings and activism. Accused of "open and deliberate contempt for generally accepted moral norms"; "malicious hooliganism with exceptional cynicism and extreme insolence"; "inflaming social, national, and religious division"; "propaganda of brutal violence, psychic pathology, and sexual perversions"-he became the target of two highly publicized criminal cases, carrying a potential prison sentence of up to 7 years.Forced to leave Russia, Mogutin was granted political asylum in the US with the support of Amnesty International and PEN American Center.Upon his arrival in New York City, he shifted his focus to visual art and became an active member of the downtown art scene. Since 1999, his photography has been exhibited internationally and featured in a wide range of publications including The New York Times, The Village Voice, i-D, Visionaire, L'Uomo Vogue and BUTT.
For over a decade his has been known for his photographic body of work that ranges from highly stylized, iconographic images to portraits that blend the boldness and honesty of police mug shots with the fantasy and desire of vintage pornography.While still inviting voyeurism, his recent work hinders the viewer's ability to see and decipher an image. He merges landscape backgrounds, which seem to be based on vernacular conventions and snapshot photography of people in front of scenic landscapes, with human forms.Also part of the exhibit is Entropy Parade, a collaboration with Brian Kenny. Mogutin and Kenny created a series of multi-layered collages based on photographs, drawings and text. Kenny says on the series, "An 'entropy parade' is like a parade that just degenerates into more and more chaos. I feel like this idea goes well with the series because it's a parade of beautiful boys in ever more ridiculous outfits (no pants, thongs, and crazy props on their heads), with chaotic drawings and collages that further degenerate any sense of order into a more chaotic (and thus exciting) vision."
The exhibit is curated by Karla Romero of Humanize Magazine.
All our programs and exhibitions are made possible with support from The Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts (Wynn Kramarsky Freedom of Artistic Expression Grant), The Efroymson Family Fund, Deer Zink Foundation, Halstead Architects, KEJ Foundation, the Indianapolis Foundation, The Tracy Haddad Foundation, The Netherleigh Fund, the Arts Council of Indianapolis, the Murphy Arts L.L.C., Penrod Foundation, and Big Car Art + Design.
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