06.02 - 10.02.08
Rekord has participated at Project (OR) Art Fare Rotterdam
with a solo presentation of the artist Ivan Galuzin

Ivan Galuzin questions different characters of power in a world controlled by static and corrupt power structures. He has applied this to the art world through inhabiting different roles, and at the same time pushing the limits of those roles as far as possible, often to total collapse. Aside from working as an exhibiting artist as painter/sculpturer, he has worked as both an underground gallerist of one of the most acknowledged young galleries in Oslo (Galuzin Gallery / TAFKAG) in collaboration with Kristian Skylstad, a radio and TV presenter/director and co-founder of SKA TV in collaboration with Christian Bould, an Art Academy based art Television channel. SKA TV also directed and initiated Art Awards, a big show based on classical award ceremonies with prizes for best gallery, gallerist, curator etc.

Galuzin’s latest work explores situations where he tests out different physical actions and positions: both like a spiritual initiation and a kind of self-inflicted torture. In a sense it’s about breaking down the ego, and managing to alter your state of mind and awareness. There is also an aspect of time, which makes it a test of endurance both for the artist and the viewer. Rekord showed several photographic works that are a documentation of Ivan’s performance All Apologies, from his curated exhibition Against the Modern World at Galleri LNM, where he lowered himself into the ground for over an hour, breathing only through a tube. The spectators were left standing around a site which looked like a freshly dug grave, watching the grass and earth rise up and down with Ivan’s breath. During the opening day of the Project (OR) Art Fare, Galuzin performed the Motörhead song Ace of Spades repetitively until his hands were shaking so severely that he could no longer pull the strings of his bass guitar, the sound of the bass and his voice filling the old post-office building, which was the location for the fare.

Galuzin on the performance:

To be given the card ace of Spades you are give a warning of death. American soldiers use this card to spread terror and horror in the middle east, as they did in the Vietnam War. The cards equivalent in tarot is the ace of swords, the sword represents the activity of the mind, the mental processes and the communication that thoughts bring about. It does represent conflict, too, so in a very real way swords can be deadly, though not in a physical sense. When the Ace of Swords is present in a tarot reading, it usually heralds an “Aha!” moment, a flash of insight that separates truth from illusion. This double-edged blade can hurt in that moment of clarity, when truth is laid bare before you, cutting away a possibly cherished, but untrue notion. While the truth can hurt, and if the one wielding the sword is barbaric and boorish it can hurt more than needed, it is also enlightening and can put one on a path of a new way of thinking and seeing things, because if what you formerly held is shown to be untrue, then there are adjustments to be made and learning to be done. That is the beginning this Ace signifies: a newfound insight that sets you on a path of clearing the way for new understanding, knowledge and truth.

Several of Galuzin’s works in the stand reflect the way pain and suffering, or failure, give birth to something new, as a means of creation or reaching a goal. Another work displayed in Rekords stand is Diamonds & Nails: a small collection of cut off finger and toenails, and 30 diamonds (fake stones in this case, for obvious reasons). In Russian pagan belief you were buried with extra fingernails, to enable you to climb all the way to the top of the holy mountain, and as such to reach paradise, like you would be buried with your most valuable belongings in other cultures. In this sense the work should be a girl’s best friend, both here and in the afterlife. Galuzin changes artistic media constantly, playing with the inherent expectations and connotations of different artistic positions. At Project (OR) he’s showing watercolors for the first time, together with the ceramic sculpture This is Stoner Art.

Rekord was invited to Project (OR) Art Fare Rotterdam by Showroom MAMA, who also initiated the event.
www.showroommama.nl

Rekords participation at Project (OR) was supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.