Georgy Litichevsky
Biographical information
1956 born in Dnepropetrovsk
1979 graduated from Moscow University (history dep-t)
since 1990 member of the City Committee of Graphic Artists
since 1993 on the editorial board of Khudozhestvennyiournal — Moscow art magazine
since 1993 member of Moscow Artists’ Union
Collections where works are held
Collection of contemporary art of Tretyakov Gallery, Museum of Andrey Sakharov, Museum Art4.ru, Moscow
KIASMA, Helsinki
Private colletions in Russia, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, France, Germany, USA
Participation in exhibitions and auctions
SOLO (DUO):
1988 Show of author’s models. Editorial office of Journal Mod, Moscow
1990 «Without the Artist’s Knowledge». Club of Nuclear Physics Institute, Dubna
1993 «The Hothouse and Around». Velta Gallery, Moscow
«Horror vacui». Part of Russian-Dutch ExchangeI Project. Moscow
1994 «Muses, Graces, and Others». Obscuri viri Gallery, Moscow
«Multi-Faced Pinocchio». CIRC workshops, Amsterdam, Netherlands
«Holzkobolde» (joint with S.Gorshkov). Galerie IFA, Bonn, Germany
1995 «Neumestnost». XL Gallery, Moscow
«The Greatest Comic Strips». Art 5III Gallery, Berlin, Germany
«Out of Place». XL Gallery, Moscow
1996 «Diligence» (joint with K.Zvezdochotov). Spider & Mouse Gallery, Moscow
1997 «48 Ways of Levitation of the Reserve Palace», exhibition-action in the framework of KUKART festival. Reserve Palace, Tsarskoye Selo
1998 «Hero of our time», Spider&Mouse Gallery, Moscow
«Yoga party and psychopathic ants» Graffiti presentation, Tretyakov gallery, Moscow
2001 Galerie Pinsel Fabrik, Nuremberg, Germany
2003 «Ponocchio’s Wahlverwandschaften», Galerie Guenter Braunsberg, Nuremberg
2005"In the process" together with G. Ostretsov, NCCA, Moscow
«One Lady’s Story» together with Ira Waldron, Galerie Iragui, Paris
2006 «Physicists and lyricists or Sex in the city», together with G. Ostretsov, Gallery Gelman, Moscow
2007 «An Austrian story» together with Georgy Ostretsov, Art Centre Resanita, Graz, Austria; MMOMA, Moscow
«Eternal student» Museum Other Art in Russian State University for Humanities, Moscow
2008 «Cactuses and Obelisks. The Moment of Truth» Artist’s atelier in The American Academy in Rome
«Cactus Schmaktus», Galerie Iragui, Moscow
«Masked Ball» Ravenscourt galleries, Moscow
2010 «Bugs and lowers» together with Daria Krotova, gallery «Garage», Nikolina gora, Moscow area
«Parthenon» Gallery Anna Nova, Saint-Petersbourg
GROUP SHOWS:
1980 «The Artists and Music». 28 Malaya Gruzinskaya St., Moscow
1982 One-day exhibition at the Artists’ Union, Moscow
1986 One-day «United Arts Festivals». Hanoi cinema; Dukat factory club; Valdai cafe, Moscow
XVII Exhibition of Young Artists. Artist’s House at Kuznetsky Most, Moscow
1987 «Folk Traditions in Amateur and Professional Art». Kashirka Gallery, Moscow
Stage design for rock concert. Medical Club, Moscow
Soiree of Hermitage amateur society under program of exh. «The Country’s Youth». Manege Moscow
Stage design for rock concert «Middle Russia’s Hills» and fashion show. Kuznetsky Most Fashion House, Moscow
«Visual Artistic Culture». Hermitage society. 100 Profsoyuznaya St., Moscow
«Retrospective of Moscow Artists
Exhibition of folk art. Moscow Energy College Club
1988 «Labyrinth». Palase of Youth, Moscow
«Bath-House» (exhibition-action). Avantgarde Club. Sanduni bath-house, Moscow
АSSА Art-Rock-Parade. Moscow Electrotechnical Works Club
«Hermitage in Holland». Technische Universiteit, Einhoven, Netherlands
«Ich lebe — ich sehe». Kunstmuseum, Bern, Switzerland
XVIII Exhibition of Young Artists. Manege, Moscow
«Festive Culture». Kashirka Gallery, Moscow
1989 «Expensive Art». Palase of Youth, Moscow
«… under 33». As above
«Dialogue». «Avant-Garde» Russe et Art Contemporain Sovietique«. Centre Boris Vian, Ville des Ulis, France
«Kinderstern». Domberger Gallery. Stuttgart, Germany
«Mosca — Terza Roma». Sala 1, Rome, Italy
«Transformation: The Legacy of Authority». Middleborough, London, etc., Gr.Britain
1990 «Woman as Object and Subject of Art». Kashirka Gallery, Moscow
«Aufbruch». Domberger Gallery. Stuttgart, Germany
«Traditions of Russian Painting». Museum of Moscow’s History and Reconstruction 1990 «Chistoprudny Boulevard». XX Gallery. Madrid, Spain
1991 «Moscou-Leningrad-Tbilisi». Nouveau theatre d’Angers, France
«Crossing the Borders». San Francisco, USA
«Esthetic Experiments». Kuskovo Museum, Moscow
«Novecento». L Gallery. Central Artist’s House, Moscow
«Milano-poesia» (festival of 7 world capitals). Milan, Italy
«Holy Week». Aidan Gallery, Moscow
«Happy New Year, Comrades». Exhibition rooms of Culture Fund, Moscow
1992 «Battle and Idyll». Velta Gallery, Moscow
«Still leven». As above
«Variety of Cultures». Museum of folklore. Rome, Italy
III International Biennale of Contemporary Art. Istanbul, Turkey
«Landscape». А 3 Gallery, Moscow
«a Mosca… a Mosca…». Villa Campoleto, Ercolano; Galleria Comunale d’Arte Moderna, Bologna, Italy
1993 «The Garden». А 3 Gallery, Moscow
«Exchange/Обмен», Moscow
«АNIGRAPH 93» («The Virtual Garden»). Exhibition of National Economy, Moscow
«Monuments: Transformation for the Future». Institute of Contemporary Art, New York, Institute of Contemporary Art, Moscow. Central Artist’s House, Moscow
«Identity». Museum of Contemporary Art. Helsinki, Finland
1994 «Identity». Centre of Contemporay Art, Moscow
«Video-Script». Petrovsky Bvrd, Moscow
«Europe-94». МОС, Munich, Germany
«The Back Stairs» (exhibition-action). Back stairs of a house, Krylenko St., Moscow
«Victory and Defeat». Obscuri viri Gallery, Moscow
«Exchange II/Datsja». Almere, Flevopolder, Netherlands
1995 «Ice-Cream — Art» (exhibition-action). Ice Fili Co., Moscow
«Dry Water». Bakhchi-Serai Museum, Crimea
«Moscow-Yerevan. The Problem of the Ark». Museum of Contemporary Art, Yerevan, Armenia
«Drawings of the Moscow Scene». Galerie Hohenthаl und Littler, Munich, Germany
«The Babel Tower Building». KUKART Festival. Smaller Palace, Tsarskoye Selo
«Аpocalypse». Russian Humanitarian University, Moscow
«Artists Against Sex». Manhatten Express night club, Moscow
«Kunst im verborgenen. Nonkonformisten Russland
«New Russian Art: Paintings from the Christian Keesee Collection». City Art Center, Oklahoma, USA
«Оn the Home». 100 Profsoyuznaya St., Moscow
«Copyright-96». Аidan Gallery, Moscow
1996 «Who am I?». Moscow artists’ exhibition at the Tbilisi biennale of contemporary art
«A Visit to the Fairy Tale» (curator O.Sarkisyan). Contemporary Art Center,Moscow (catalogue)
1997 3rd Biennale of Contemporary art. Cetine, Montenegro
«The Ecology of the Void». Contemporary Art Institute, Moscow
«My Own Film». Aidan Gallery, Kodak Film Center, Moscow
Moscow Forum of Art Initiatives. Maly Manege, Moscow (catalogue)
«Projects for Restoring the Gostiny Dvor Arcade». Central House of Artists, Moscow
1998 «Meeting Another Europe». Greek embassy, Moscow
2000 ″ Red square — White Tower«, Thessaloniki, Greece
2004 «Seven sins», Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2005 «Soobschniki» Special project of the First Moscow Biennale, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
2006 «Dilettanten. From Lenin to Putin and back again», Marres Art Centre, Maastricht, Netherland
2007 «Veriu — I believe» Special project of the 2nd Moscow Biennale of contemporary art, Art Centre Winzavod, Moscow
«Heterotopias», 1st Biennale of contemporary art in Thessaloniki, Greece
2008 «Art-Veretievo», Veretievo, Moscow area
2009 «Born in the USSR» Lichthof — show-room of the Foreign Office, Germany, Berlin
«Russian lettrism», Central house of artists, Moscow
«Pravdami I nepravdami», special project of the 3d Moscow biennale, centre of contemporary art «Fabrika», Moscow
2010 «Aesthetics of comics in contemporary art» special project of the festival Kommissia, gallery M;ARS, Moscow
ACTIONS:
1988 «Standard-Bearer» (during G.Ostretsov’s fashion show). Kashirka Gallery, Moscow
«Аivazovsky, Teach me to Draw» (during masked wedding of Agness Pusadu and Georgy Ostretsov). As above
1990 «Discovery of Litichevsky» (BOLI group). Chistoprudny Gallery, Moscow
«Pelmeni Cafe» (BOLI group). Pelmeni cafe, Chernishevsky St., Moscow
1991 «Collector» (BOLI group). Chistoprudny Gallery, Moscow
1992 «The Fish of Moscow Avantgarde». As above
1995 «The Love of Porcupines» (with E.Nartova, as part of exhibition «Artists Against Sex»). Manhatten Express night club, Moscow
1996 «Who am I?» as part of international biennale of contemporary art. Tbilisi, Georgia
2000 «950 buckets» Cultutal mile, Nuremberg
2003 «Yoga party», Tretyakov gallery
What the critics say
The short Renaissance of the «perestroika» epoque gave birth to a new type of creative person. Those «new artists» set off the values of dilettantism and artistic life against the routine of medieval restrictions of the necessity of the real professional skill and education. Georgy Litichevsky, became an artist after a postgraduate course in the field of ancient history. His ingenuous hobby — the drawing of comics books — was the base for his personal art aesthetics. Later Litichevsky changed his tactics, but saved his «cheap popular print style» for the description of his personages. He has chosen the stylistics of mimicry to real old paintings, but his personages were still the heroes of school-folklore — Przhevalsky with his horse, Krylov with the small dog Mosjka, and Michurin with apples.
Simultaneously together with Farid Bogdalov he worked out the art program of «impossibilism» (impossible art), based on the idea of the impotent character of contemporary art. BOLI (BOgdalov and LItichevsky) urged the artists to appeal to a new kind of audience (action in the Zoo). They were also interested in the element of «chance», fortune, and game in art in general, and they played a lot with the symbol of the dice-cube. Being an archetypical form, this dice-cube could be easily transformed with the aim of incarnating some other «essence». For the exhibition «Aesthetical Experiments» BOLI proposed the cube made out of neon-tubes, and this cube perfectly suited the «dialogue» between contemporary art and the environment of the
In all that comes out of Georgy Litichevsky’s hands (his installations dealing with achievements of technology, his paintings in the naive art-style, his critical essays on the Moscow art-situation) one can see certain features betraying his past «historical» career and his special interest in the basic cultural codes and eternal subjects.
But… his favourite genre of art is still the comics strip.
M.Orlova «Georgy Litichevsky» — Segodnya, 11 September 1993
