Russian born British artist Veronica Smirnoff presents a new solo show at the Gallery Vela in London from June 1st to July 7th,2012 (galleryvela.com) .

Veronica Smirnoff is known for using the traditional medium of Egg Tempera to paint onto gessoed wood panel, historically associated with Russian and Greek Icon-painting.

Her work is inspiredby different sources from miniature, early renaissance painting, folk art to media culture and cartoons and combine contemporary images with fragments from ancient times and folk imagination, liking local context to the universal.

“Madding Spring” refers to the recent geo-political events in Arab countries while echoing Thomas Hardy’s novel, Far from the Madding Crowd. The series of works have  taken their images from photo-reportages at the frontline in Lybia,  sourced as cut-outs from media and fashion periodicals.

Veronica Smirnoff also participates in the group show “Dreaming Beauties” at Gallery Riccardo Crespin in Milan.
She had presented a solo show “Zhar” at Galerie Stanislas Bourgain in Paris in 2010.

Distance is short between social action and contemporary art in Russia.  The young generation of artists mostly get their inspiration from the contemporaneity of the Russian society. They produce an art bold and sharp, full of energy and agressive drive.

The show curated in the Museum of Modern Art of Warsaw, by David Ter-Oganyan, son of the renowned conceptualist artist Avdei Ter-Oganyan, presents a series of works by young Russian artists, important for the Moscow art scene today. It includes not just Russians, but also artists from former Soviet republics and from Western countries.

The works presented by the “Angry birds” artists is a form of protest art, as these same artists did came to the Bolotnaya Square in Moscow last December, for the most massive protest action of the last 15 years.

With his painting, drawing or installation, each artist provides his own analysis of the situation and his voice to the current rise of protest movements in Russian but also in many other countries from Egypt to Spain.

More info about the show on the museum’s website

More images of David Ter-Oganyan’s artwork upon request info@galeriesb.com

Alina&Jeff Bliumis are an artist team both born abroad but living in the United States for more than a decade.

Inspired  by their personal immigration experience,  they explore in their work cultural standards, foreignness and national identity through projects and sculptural installations, often placed in communal spaces that incorporate a public dialogue.

This year, they have placed the following ad for residents of the Bronx, via local media and social networking sites: ”New York-based husband and wife artist team are offering a painting in exchange for an invitation to a family dinner. Please email or call for more info.”

Over the next month, they had dinner with 13 families all over the Bronx. Along this journey, we have met wonderful people, had meaningful conversations, enjoyed tasty meals and gained a new perspective on the Bronx community.

All 13 paintings stayed in the families. But the resulting series of 13 photo family portraits, A Painting for a Family Dinner / Bronx, NY is part of No Longer Empty’s This Side of Paradise exhibition and is on display at The Bronx Museum of the Arts, 1040 Grand Concourse at 165th St, Bronx, NY until June 4, 2012.

MASHA SHUBINA will be a participant of the first Kiev Biennale of Contemporary Art that will take place from May 24 to July 31, 2012 in the renovated Mystetskyi Arsenal.

This event,  art-directed by British curator David Elliott, is more than just a new  comer in the list of biennales around the world. It will be a unique opportunity to look at the emerging local art scene in the context of the globalized art world and to create dialogues between leading international and Ukrainian artists.

Among the 100 participating artists will be also : Ai Weiwei, Kader Attia, Sergei Bratkov, Barti Kher, Paul Maccarthy, Nikita Kadan or Bill Viola.

more info