Pavel Pletnyov | Cosmoscow 2023

{"type":"doc","content":[{"type":"heading","attrs":{"level":3},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"The studio visit series with participants from the DiDi Gallery booth at the international contemporary art fair Cosmoscow continues with Pavel Pletnyov"}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"A St. Petersburg artist originally from Omsk, known for his large-scale and miniature urban-themed objects. At the XI edition of Cosmoscow fair, Pavel will present new series of works \"Microdistrict Atom\" and \"Cans\", complementing them with large-scale objects \"Pumping\", \"Expensive Hair\" and \"Echo\". Developing the main line of his creativity, Pavel introduces new surrealist images into familiar everyday plots, in which past and future, the modern and chthonic are intertwined."}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"Pavel successfully showed himself at Cosmoscow in 2021, as well as at the last charity auction of the Cosmoscow Foundation, where his object was sold 5 times above the estimate. Pavel's works are in the collections of the State Russian Museum, the Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, the MAXART Foundation, the Museum of Street Art and Street Art Storage in St. Petersburg. In our new material from Pavel's studio, we will show how his captivating objects are created, learn more about the new series, artistic method and plans for the coming months."}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"level":3},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Tell me about your workshop."}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"I rent this workshop as a co-working space with my partners. I had a good workshop, but it burned down. Now here's another one. There's such a factory atmosphere here, everyone walks around gloomy, minding their own business, no artists or fashionistas."}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"level":3},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Which work in your career took you most time to create? Is it a painting, graffiti, or an object?"}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"By the way, what an amazing story! At time of the fire, a large diorama \"Wall of Fame\" was requested for an exhibition, and it's only work remaining from that period. I wouldn't say it was the most intricate itself, but it grew from a small decoration into something so large and survived all the twists and turns."}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"I spent years creating it, meaning little by little something was gradually added. Many of my works can lie in a semi-disassembled state waiting for their moment. For example, I came up with the work two years ago, started assembling it six months ago, and set it aside for next project. It's important for me to capture the idea, that is, to buy a canvas for it, or order parts — then I saw that the dimensions were all right and set it aside like a canned good. And then at the right moment, I took it and finished it."}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"level":3},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"\"Wall of Fame\" is a signature work in which you collected tags from different street artists. Are there any collaborations planned with other artists?"}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"I'd love to collaborate with a global brand like Nike haha :) and shoot a clip with some musician, or a series of clips like novellas to music. I've been thinking for a long time about getting into stop-motion, I've watched all puppet cartoons, but probably time hasn't come yet."}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"Right now I'm waiting for a collaboration from Sasha Truna, to whom I provided container dioramas, and from Dima Flood, with whom I'm making a diptych \"Duel\" on canvas. In this work, I was guided by the visual rather than the idea — when I made the diorama \"Battle for Resources,\" there was a bunch of trash: remnants of printed bags, banners, layered on top of each other. It looked like advertising on athletes who were randomly covered with it, and I transferred this theme to a 1хBet knightly tournament. But all this takes a long time — I handed it over six months ago, I'll call in six months, and then in another six months work will begin."}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"The thing is, I can collaborate with anyone in the world. I can collaborate with Burda — I have a assembled part of a hangar and the Buran shuttle on which he did graffiti. I'm still waiting for him, but he can't make it for the second year in a row :)"}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"level":3},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Do you feel connected to the street art scene and observe the new generation of artists?"}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"For street people, I'm a \"designer,\" for gallery folks — a \"graffiti artist.\" But stylistic purity isn't most important thing for me personally. In terms of street art, I'm mostly into commercial work and do murals. Provincial clients love to present it as \"an artist came to us from St. Petersburg and look what he painted for us.\""}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"Sometimes I do small pieces in my neighborhood for myself. Recently I moved to Vsevolozhsk and got so into this place that I made the Ladozhka booth. Lately, I've been creating a series of very simple botanical sketches, I want to make some place nicer without any nicknames and all that jazz."}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"level":3},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Who is a good artist?"}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"The one who made it into art history. As they say, victors are not judged."}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"level":3},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"What is important to you in your work today?"}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"I enjoy aesthetics, meaning I try to bring everydayness into situations where it becomes ironic. It's not thought that matters, but mood, like an empty lot in the fog early in the morning with no one around. The viewer should feel this in their heart, while the visual can be completely different."}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"At the same time, a whole world is born from small episodes, and a person sees familiar things through my filter—just as they \"appear\" to me. There's no clear message here, there's a mechanism for transforming reality into the viewer's emotion. My task, as in music, is to find the right strings and play them correctly. All songs are about love, all paintings are about death. I do because it needs to be done. The main thing is to come up with an oxymoron and show it to the viewer."}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"level":3},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"You characterize your art as the \"Grand Chthon Model.\" Is it possible to tame Chthon?"}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"It's good to exploit the theme of Chthon during calm, prosperous times. Everything has changed and it's becoming more prevalent. That's why my recent works, so to speak, are calmer—if initially I wanted to show trash, now I want to move away from it, so that Chthon remains where it inhabits and comes out less often. Our entire aesthetic is comfort, which is overlapped by the paw of the local Chthon, where we live, and it mixes everything up."}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"level":3},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Previously, you modified toy soldiers, cars, worked with recycled materials, but now you print small details on a 3D printer. What are the advantages of this method?"}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"I still continue to use everything at hand. The advantage of 3D printing is unlimited imagination. I don't know how ethical this is, but I use model banks and, like a DJ, I sample plots."}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"level":3},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"What are your new objects for the Cosmoscow fair about, and what was the most difficult part about working on them?"}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"I have several leitmotifs that I've been working on for a long time. The \"Atom Microdistrict\" series is a continuation of \"Atomization,\" but in this series, the segments will be arranged not chaotically, but will compositionally form something like a flower. There will be many brass plants that I ordered from a master from Krasnodar. I also learned to use a soldering iron and now I solder antennas and plants. Here the question of durability is important — so many small details break off and spoil the impression, and you want to leave your mark for centuries."}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"All my works are dedicated to some kind of journey — a city appears, then a suburb. In the new \"Banks\" series, the dacha houses are preserved like pickles. The most important thing in it is that life can be calm, or a hurricane can happen when life's troubles turn everything upside down and everything falls as it may — each time in a new way. The most difficult thing is to select objects that will sink in the liquid inside the jars, rather than just floating on the surface. For this, the details need to be weighted down."}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"For example, plastic toy cars don't sink, so I fill them with resin, and the houses are made entirely of resin because dense plastic objects are torn apart by glycerin and they crack. I will also present a new diptych \"Hair Expensive.\" For me, this is a landmark work. As soon as I saw the ad \"hair expensive,\" I was fascinated by the absurdity of this phrase. Then, over several years, I repeatedly encountered similar flyers in different places."}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"Amazingly, people come, buy the hair of young princesses, and leave. Hair is perhaps the only resource extracted from humans on such a scale. The works from the diptych look similar externally, but are based on different myths: one is based on the fairy tale about Rapunzel and illustrates the plot of a girl locked in her concrete tower. The second is about Cleopatra and beauty standards, as unshakable as the pyramids."}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"The object \"Echo\" is a large minimalist work based on a simple technique and visualizes echo as such, which spreads through an empty quarter."}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"level":3},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"What are your plans for the near future?"}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"I need to have a personal exhibition, publish a book, and we'll include an interview in it :) In the new project, there will be painting and metal — another reinterpretation of the \"sun\" grille in its natural size and material. Right now, there are dioramas in the workshop — whole scenes with a large number of characters. There will be a cool work with people flowing down into an underground passage. And I also want to buy a dacha. My mom has a dacha like that in Omsk!"}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"level":3},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"And the art fair? You missed Cosmoscow in 2021 because you were on a business trip. Did you want to see everything with your own eyes?"}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"To be honest, not really. I'm terribly shy, but at the same time, I want to hear some praise. This year, I won't be working at the fair, of course, but I would like to see some familiar guests there."}]},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"level":3},"content":[{"type":"text","Text Info"}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"The preview fair for collectors and art professionals will take place on September 28."}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"Fair public days from September 29 to October 1."}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"See you at the DiDi Gallery booth — B13 in the Main (Base) section."}]}]}