Ruslan Vashkevich

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Ruslan Vashkevich is one of the brightest and indeed the most original contemporary Belarusian artists - always startling, shocking, eccentric and intelligent. As an artist Ruslan is entertaining, provocative and bold.

His art is narrative and figurative, but at the same time its immanent feature is a feeling of topicality, and consequently here we observe closeness of creative mood and artist’s position to the radical trends of contemporary art. Ruslan Vashkevich’s system of visions is amazingly complex and everything is subordinated to it, because “the plasticity of thought” is the main thing for the artist. Hence this strangely anemic, advertising and unremarkable manner of painting, often borrowed from the world of mass culture that imparts almost documentary persuasiveness to these odd images; and the monochromatism of his paintings, almost complete indifference to matter of color.

In many aspects the main principle of Ruslan Vashkevich’s creative work can be define as “Art as strategy”. It’s common for him, who inquisitively investigates the nature of artistry, to withdraw the components of a work of art from their usual context, either dividing them into parts or assembling it anew. Ruslan Vashkevich freshens up the perception of classical pieces, he deconstructs established poetic manner throwing a new light upon it, exposing or destroying it and confusing the believers in its sanctity. Flowing, ease, game and the robust point of view… Absence of direct interaction, intent look and half-closed eyes… Almost anecdotic simplicity on the surface hides completely opposite mission of the painter.

Ruslan Vashkevich

“Artist has no right to stand with both feet solid on the ground - this is inconvenient pose for the flight. Much better position is when you are in the corner against the entire world ", Ruslan Vashkevich mentioned once. The point made excites admiration not only by itself, but also by the quality of figuratively vocalized idea.

Actually, no one could describe Ruslan’s creative process better than himself. “when working on an exposition or a project, I don’t try to unload my problems on viewers. Don’t want to scare them off with an unexpected answer. It’s exciting to me to start a phrase, compose an algorithm and encourage them to play along. Every time I show an audience the very principle of how the creative mechanism operates. The more complicated the task is, the more original the solution is. The most captivating and dramatic things are going on with unsolvable tasks. The answer to it could be especially pure and artistic one. But an outstanding quality and wholeness of the moment are emphasized when the goals are indistinct or there are no tasks at all. It liberates an artist from the false sense of responsibility and as a result, the unrestricted creativity triumphs. It’s not my cup of tea to teach people – to a greater degree it’s me who is being taught. Again, such experiences only emancipate an artist. That’s why each of my artwork is more or less an undisguised provocation. It’s always an intricate theoretical maze of feelings, a dance of thoughts with a mandatory positive motive. It’s important to me that the common sense wins. Therefore I involve a diverse arsenal of technical means and approaches, which helps to uncover the ambiguity of an image. Recently I’ve been looking at painting as a template, a plot of escape from reality or a rehearsal of other life”.

Ruslan Vashkevich was born in 1966 in Minsk, Belarus.
1992 - graduated from the Belarusian Academy of Arts, Minsk, Belarus
1993 – training, Hannover, Germany
since 1995 - member of the Belarusian Artists' Union
since 1999 - member of Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris
2001 - training, Kunstlerhaus Boswil, Switzerland
2007 – training, Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris

Solo exhibitions:
1994 "Two steps forward", Kovcheg (Ark) Gallery, Minsk, Belarus
1996 Republican Art Gallery, Minsk, Belarus
1996 S`ART Gallery, Moscow, Russia
1997 Pieter Breughel gallery, Amsterdam, Holland
1997 M`ARS gallery, Moscow, Russia
1997 Counsil of Europe, Strasbourg, France
1997 "Second Hand", S`ART gallery, Moscow, Russia
1998 "Second Second Hand", Pieter Breughel gallery, Amsterdam, Holland
1998 "Second Second Hand", Zhilbel gallery, Minsk, Belarus
1999 Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris, France
1999 "Five seasons", Mastatstva gallery, Minsk, Belarus
1999 "Experience field", Gallery of European Humanitarian University, Minsk, Belarus
2000 d`Haudrecy gallery, Knokke, Belgium
2000 Cartel gallery, Granada, Spain
2000 Eastwick gallery, Chicago, USA
2000 "Second Second Hand", Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia
2000 "Second Second Hand - erotic version", S`ART gallery, Moscow, Russia
2001 Cartel gallery, Granada, Spain
2001 "Kunstlishe Atmung", Goldenes Kalb gallery, Aarau, Switzerland
2001 "Force Majeure", Royden Prior gallery, Windsor, Eton, UK
2001 "Force Majeure", Vaal gallery, Tallinn, Estonia
2002 d`Haudrecy gallery, Knokke, Belgium
2002 "Vincent van Gogh Memorial House", Terra des Homes gallery, Minsk, Belarus
2003 De Twee Pauwen gallery, the Hague, Netherlands
2003 "Handy-Mandy", Zhilbel gallery, Minsk, Belarus
2003 "Handy-Mandy", Royden Prior gallery, Windsor, Eton, UK
2003 Art-Manege, Moscow, Russia
2004 "Trouble with Classicists", Gallery of European Humanitarian University, Minsk, Belarus
2004 De Twee Pauwen gallery, Den Haag, Netherlands
2004 Museum of Musical Instruments, Roma, Italy
2005 Gallery Civica Saint-Vincent, Aosta, Italy
2005 Art gallery, Polotsk, Belarus
2006 Gallery L`elogio Dell`Effimero, Casale, Italy
2006 "Happy Endian", Museum of Contemporary Art, Minsk, Belarus
2006 "Crime in Paradise", Collection gallery, Kiev, Ukraine
2007 "Socia", Tallinn, Estonia
2007 "The End of the World", Collection gallery, Kiev, Ukraine
2007 “RW++++”, the National Museum of History and Art, Minsk, Belarus
2007 De Twee Pauwen gallery, Den Haag, Netherlands
2008 “Rhymes”, Podzemka gallery, Minsk, Belarus
2009 “M+W”, Museum of Contemporary Art, Parnu, Estonia
2009 Art-Manege, Moscow, Russia
2010 “Richter Scale”, U Gallery, Minsk, Belarus
2011 “Museum”, the National Art Museum, Minsk, Belarus
2011 Art-Manege, Moscow, Russia
2011 De Twee Pauwen gallery, Den Haag, Netherlands

Selected group exhibitions:
1996 Bel-Art-Tranzit, Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia
1996 Art-Manege, Moscow, Russia
1996 Art-Moscow, Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia
1997 "Modern Art of Belarus", Republican Art gallery, Minsk, Belarus
1997 "The world of sensuality in art - the end of the 20th century", Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia
1998 Sotheby's (charitable auction), hotel Metropol, Moscow, Russia
1999 "Heroes", Small Manege, Moscow, Russia
1999 "New collection", Museum of Contemporary Art, Minsk, Belarus
2000 "Spanish party", Museum of Contemporary Art, Minsk, Belarus
2001 "Vorwiegend heiter", Kunstlerhaus Boswil, Switzerland
2002, 2006 "Man&Woman", Museum of New Art, Parnu, Estonia
2002 "Enigmas", Marsha Child gallery, Princeton, USA
2002 Boston Art Fair, USA
2003 Escape Pierre-Cardin, Paris, France
2003 "Art-Constitution", Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia
2004 "Modern Art of Belarus", Museum of Contemporary Art, Almelo, Netherlands
2005 "Balota Empire", The Centre of Modern Art, Kiev, Ukraine
2005 Art-Moscow, Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia
2005 51st International Art Biennale di Venizia, Venice, Italy
2005 Arte Padova, Padova, Italy
2006 Arte Genova, Genova, Italy
2006 Art-Madrid, Madrid, Spain
2006 Arte Parma, Parma, Italy
2006 "Man&Woman", Museum of Contemporary Art, Parnu, Estonia
2007 “New Angelarius”, Moscow Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia
2008 “Unknown Russia - 6”, Museum of Contemporary Russian Art, New Jersey, USA
2008 The 1st Biennial of Belarusian Contemporary Art, Minsk, Belarus
2008 “Ost Lockt / East Up”, Romerapotheke gallery, Zurich, Switzerland
2009 “Gender Check”, MUMOK, Vienna, Austria
2009 Q Contemporary Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
2009 “Illusions, Hoaxes and Reallity”, the Academy of Art, Minsk, Belarus
2010 “Gender Check”, Zacheta gallery, Warsaw, Poland
2010 “Cinema-4”, Marc Chagall Museum, Vitebsk, Belarus
2010 “Alla Gloria Military", Aircraft Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
2010 “Booby Trap 2.0”, Q Contemporary Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
2010 14th Vilnius Painting Triennial, “False Recognition”, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania
2010 ART-KYIV Contemporary 2010 , Kyiv, Ukraine
2010 “Opening the Doors? Belarusian Art Today”, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania
2011 “2011: A Space Odyssey”, the Arsenal, Kyiv, Ukraine
2011 “Cinematograph - 5” , Marc Chagall Museum, Vitebsk, Belarus
2011 Opening the Doors? Belarusian Art Today”, Zacheta Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
2011 «She Cannot Say HEAVEN», Art-Vilnius Expo, Vilnius, Lithuania

Curatorial projects:
1999 “Experimental Field”, the Art Gallery of the European Humanities University, Minsk Belarus
1999 “Five Seasons”, “Mastatstva” art Gallery, Minsk, Belarus
2000 “Spanish Opening”, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Minsk, Belarus
2000 «Second Second Hand», the Central House of Artist, Moscow, Russia
2009 “Belarusian Pavilion at 53d Venice Biennale”, BelExpo Exhibition Center, Minsk, Belarus