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3rd Degree Specialist
We are pleased to present the artist Roman Sakin, whose solo exhibition is being held in our gallery for the first time.
Roman Sakin was born in 1976 in Kursk.
He graduated from the Vasnetsov Industrial Art College (1997) and the Stroganov Art-Industrial College (2005).
Group Exhibitions:
• Moscow International Symposium of Sculpture (2003)
• "Two Capitals in the Space of Play" (2004, St. Petersburg, Museum of Toys)
• The Annual Exhibitions of Young Art "Workshop" (2005-2007; MMOMA, Moscow)
• Festival of Young Art "Halt! Who goes there?" (2005-2006; SCCA, Moscow)
• The 1st Moscow Biennale of Young Art "Halt! Who goes there?" (2008, Art & Science Space)
• The "Kandinsky Prize" Exhibition (2009, CHA, Moscow)
Solo Exhibitions:
• K.B.-1 (2007 ARTStrelka-projects, Moscow)
• Forest (2009, Moscow Museum of Modern Art)
• Elementary Particles (2009, Contemporary Art Centre "WINZAVOD", Moscow)
In 2007, Olga Lopukhova (the curator and inspirer of ARTStrelka-projects) wrote about Roman Sakin's controllable kinetic objects:
"The moving parts of the controllable sculptures tell us about the properties of the object in space using the example of the movement of simple geometric objects. Thus, a cube moves up and down, left and right. Its property – is orientation in space. And a sphere – moves in all directions from or towards the centre, its property – is energy. In its turn, a cone moves from its base upwards to the top or from the top downwards to the base, its property – is to disperse/concentrate. The combinations of these figures, as well as their movement in space create a complex story. The story, developing at the will of the viewer, can represent his feelings. The viewer, controlling the sculpture, is the performer of his own work of plastic art."
In the 2009 exhibition of the Kandinsky Prize nominees Sakin showed his controllable sculpture (C. S.) "Forest", in the transforming of which, the viewer creates three-dimensional geometric compositions which refer to the Russian Avant-garde of the early 20th century.
"The difference between "C. S" and kinetic sculpture – says the artist – is that in kinetic sculpture what is most important is – movement, but in "C.S." – the endpoints. The external appearance of "C.S.", in contrast to kinetic sculpture, depends largely on the ability of the user."
In the M&J Guelman Gallery Roman Sakin presents a model of the artist's studio, in which, by limiting the space, he immerses the exhibition viewer in his work of art, thus turning the viewer into a participant and an indispensable element of the installation.
Discussing the relationship between a work of art and the viewer, Roman, with appealing seriousness, refers to the research of Professor Josef Hynek (Josef Allen Hynek (1910-1986) – American ufologist and astronomer) on human contacts with aliens, on the one hand, speaking ironically about the "extraterrestrial nature" of the artist, and on the other hand, questioning the possibility of there being full understanding between the artist and the viewer.
Sakin quotes the scale of human contacts with extraterrestrial intelligence, developed by Josef Hynek:
UFO researcher Joseph Hynek has created a scale of human contacts with aliens.
It consists of three levels.
They are approximately as follows:
1. Seeing a UFO from a distance
2. Seeing and feeling
3. Seeing, feeling, being inside a UFO and communicating with aliens.
This scale is perfect for the classification of human contacts with Art.
I was often worried by the weak impact art exhibitions had on me, especially those of unfamiliar artists, where one should merely look. I suppose this is contact of the first level.
A stronger impression was made on me in exhibitions in which something was moving, or I had to do or move something, or something smelt, or I knew something about the artist. This is contact of the second level.
The strongest impression was made on me by the exhibitions of artists, whom I personally knew, especially if I saw how the work was created, saw the sketches, and, even better, was in the studio before. This is contact of the third level.
So I decided to make third level contact possible, creating my own studio, open to all, in the gallery.
The idea of such an exhibition is that the visitor, being in the studio, finds himself inside the process of creating a work of art, and this causes stronger emotions and adds a certain honesty, like being behind the scenes of a magician's show. This is the same as interactive sculpture in which, by being engaged in the moving of elements, one finds oneself inside the process. Observing the creation of things, one ceases to be a passive viewer, that is, any object, being in the studio, becomes interactive.
I don't really like exhibitions as a genre of showing Art. Exhibitions only appeared in the 18th century and, being an imperfect chance invention, exist to this day almost unchanged. Letting viewers into the studio, although not a new approach to the problem, but, on the contrary, rather old, – is very effective.
Roman Sakin
full address : http://old.guelman.ru/eng/gallery/moscow/sakin/