ORELART PARIS Art Contemporain Russe et International

Orel Art is pleased to present The News, Ivan Plusch’s first exhibition in France. A representative of a new generation of Russian painters, Plusch is a promising young artist from St Petersburg. After his successful contribution to Orel Art UK’s group show Good News!, he was selected by the internationally acclaimed curator Hervé Mikaeloff to be part of his upcoming exhibition of Russian contemporary art at the Garage in Moscow.

Ivan Plusch’s work is unique and refreshing, combining two different styles on the same canvas. While he treats the background in a realistic manner, he uses a ‘peinture coulée’ technique for the principal figure itself. After applying a thick layer of paint, the canvas is quickly turned around, allowing gravity to do the rest.

In these paintings reminiscent of the work of Gerhard Richter, the faces seem to have been transformed by an unknown force. The background adds context to the composition. Looking at Plusch’s painting is like looking at quickly changing images on a TV screen.

By representing a very real subject in a semi-abstract way, Plusch confronts us with the fragmentation and blending of information so characteristic of our society. The News series addresses this total confusion of information we are facing on a daily basis.

Ivan Plusch (born1981) is an up and coming artist belonging to the Nepokorionnye (« The Unconquerables ») group based in St Petersburg. He studied at various St Petersburg art schools including the State Academy of Art and Design, the Roerich Art School and the PRO ARTE Institute. On his big canvases from the Monument series (2007), Plusch painted images of a happy futre, which emerged from the detroyed relics of a Soviet past.