Abalakova Natalia
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
1941 born in Nizhny Novgorod (Gorky), Russia
1961 graduated from the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute (Philological Department)
In the late 60s began practicing painting.
From 1974 takes an active part in non-conformist artists’ movement. Participated in numerous apartment and other exhibitions of those times.
From the late 70s began developing a project "Explorations into the Essence of Art as Applied to Life and Art" (TOTART) together with A. Zhigalov. Within the framework of the Project there were realized a great many actions, performances, installations, shown a lot of films and videos. Much time was devoted to literary and critical work.
She is one of the founders and participators of all APTART actions. One of the founders of the Moscow New Art Archives.
From the late 80s returns to painting making at the same time various TOTART projects; arranges a number of significant solo exhibitions with A. Zhigalov.
N. Abalakova’s paintings are peculiar due to their wide range, a bit ironical mythological character, deliberate subjectivism (showing itself in a specific "collage" perception of the material), and expressiveness. Her latest works present video performances and installations
in the framework of the Project made with A. Zhigalov.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1990 "ТОТАRТ. N. Abalakova and A. Zhigalov. 1960-90". (Glasgow – Moscow). Sadovniky Gallery, Moscow, Russia
1991 "Journey to the D’s End..." (New Works, 1990-91)". Sadovniky Gallery, Moscow, Russia
"Natalia Abalakova and Anatoly Zhigalov. 1960-91". Central Exhibition Hall Manege, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Russia
"N.Abalakova and A.Zhigalov. Graphic Art". House of Culture, Brno, Czechoslovakia
1993 "The Unknowable Leaves its Trace in Unpredictable Consequences". L Gallery, Moscow, Russia
"Ave, Eva" (Еva Zhigalova). Contemporary Art Center, Laboratory Gallery, Moscow, Russia
"Anatomy of Culture". Graphic Art and Projects. 1989-93". Velta Gallery, Moscow, Russia
1994 "21 Fingers". Free Culture Humanitarian Foundation, Gallery 21, St. Petersburg, Russia
1995 "The North Wind". Free Culture Humanitarian Foundation, Gallery 21, St. Petersburg, Russia
"Nordwind" (performance/videoinstallation). Kunstraum, Wuppertal, Germany
1996 "Place of the Artist". Video performance/installation. Gallery 21, St. Petersburg, Russia
"Garden of Smiles". Video installation. Spider & Mouse Gallery, Moscow, Russia
1997 "Just Have a Little Patience – Everything Will Be OK". Video installation. Free Culture Humanitarian Foundation, Gallery 21, St. Petersburg, Russia
1997-98 "Just Have a Little Patience – Everything Will Be OK." Video installation. Spider & Mouse Gallery, Moscow, Russia
1998 "The North Wind". Video installations. Art Media Center "TV Gallery", Moscow, Russia
1999 "21 Fingers of the Artists’ Life". Spider & Mouse Gallery, Moscow, Russia
"Foucault’s Pendulum". Spider & Mouse Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2001 "DOM Operation 2". Zverev Contemporary Art Center Museum, Moscow, Russia
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1974 Exhibition of Graphic Art. V.Korolenko Library, Moscow, Russia
Independent Artists’Exhibition at A. Gleser’s apartment. Moscow, Russia
1975 Apartment Exhibitions. Moscow, Russia
Exhibition at I. Kiblitsky’s apartment. March 31 – April 4. Moscow, Russia
Exhibition at K. Nagopetyan apartment. Moscow, Russia
Unofficial Artists’ Exhibition at "House of Culture" Pavilion (National Economy Achievements’ Exhibition), Moscow, Russia
1976 "Exposition au Musee en Exil"(А.Zhigalov from A.Gleser’s collection). Моngeron, France
1st Exhibition held by City Committee of Graphic Artists (A.Zhigalov). Malaya Gruzinskaya, Moscow, Russia
Exhibition at V. Nikolayev’s apartment (A. Danilov, A. Zhigalov, V. Nikolayev). Moscow, Russia
"New Soviet Art". Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy. Catalogue (A. Zhigalov)
Spring Exhibition on Malaya Gruzinskaya (Zhigalov). Moscow, Russia
Autumn Exhibition on Malaya Gruzinskaya (Zhigalov). Moscow, Russia
1978 Spring Exhibition on Malaya Gruzinskaya. Moscow, Russia
"New Soviet Art". Turin, Italy. Catalogue (Zhigalov)
Autumn Exhibition on Malaya Gruzinskaya. Moscow, Russia
1979 Spring Exhibition on Malaya Gruzinskaya. Moscow, Russia
"Colour, Space, Form" (А.Zhigalov, Catalogue). Мalaya.Gruzinskaya, Moscow, Russia
Autumn Exhibition at Graphic Artists’ Trade Union City Committee. Moscow, Russia
1980 Spring Exhibition on Malaya Gruzinskaya. Moscow, Russia
"Space" (A. Zhigalov). Malaya Gruzinskaya, Moscow, Russia
Graphic Art Exhibition on Malaya Gruzinskaya. Moscow, Russia
Exhibition of painting on Malaya Gruzinskaya. Moscow, Russia
"La Lumiere". Arts festival. Avignon, France
"Le Temps qui court". France
Unofficial festival of performances in Prague, Czechoslovakia
1981 1st Festival of performances "DOM Operation" in Pogorelovo village, Kostroma Region, Russia
Exhibition of painting on MalayaGruzinskaya. Moscow, Russia
1982 "Russian New Wave". CRAC, New York, USA
1st APTART exhibition at Nikita Alexeev’s apartment. Moscow, Russia
1982-84 "Russian Samizdat Art". New York, Rochester, Westchester, Washington, Richmond, Seattle, Pittsburg, Los Angeles, USA; Vancouver, Canada
1983 "Russian Women Artists: 1930-82" (N.Abalakova). CRAC, New York, USA
"АPTART As It Is". Kalistovo, Moscow Region, Russia
"Victory over the Sun". Exhibition/action at N. Alexeev’s apartment, Moscow, Russia
"АPTART Behind the Fence". Tarasovka, Moscow Region, Russia
"Come Yesterday and You’ll Be the First". City without Walls Gallery, USA; Moscow/ Newark/New York
1984 "APTART in Tribeca". CRAC, New York, USA
"Le Vivant et l’Artificiel". Avignon, France
1985 Festival of Contemporary Art. Moscow Automobile Plant’s Club, Russia
1st Festival of Underground Cinematography. S.Sokhranskaya’s studio, Moscow, Russia
"International Experimental Art". Young Artists’ Club, Budapest, Hungary
"Russian Art Show". Danceteria, New York, USA
"APTART". Project for the Arts, Washington, USA
Exhibition of Soviet Artists. City Without Walls Gallery, New York, USA
One-day exhibition of graphic art. Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia
Mail-Art exhibitions and projects in Europe and America
Exhibition and Debates of conceptualists and meta-metaphorists. Culture and the Arts Club, Moscow, Russia
1986 APTART. New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, USA
"Art of Today". International Exhibition. Budapest, Hungary
"The Nude in Contemporary Art". One-day exhibition and symposium at Kuznetsky Most House of Artists. Moscow, Russia
Lecture and show of works by N.Abalakova and A.Zhigalov. Poets’ Club, Leningrad, Russia
"Art against Commerce" (action). Bitsa Park, Moscow, Russia
"Primitive Art" (one-day exhibition and symposium). Kuznetsky Most, Moscow, Russia
Mail-Art numerous international exhibitions and projects
1987 Exhibition of Unofficial Art. Pavilion in the Habour, Leningrad, Russia
"Оbject-1". Malaya.Gruzinskaya, Moscow, Russia
"Retrospective of Moscow Artists’ Works, 1957-1987". Hermitage Amateur Association, 100 Profsoyuznaya St., Moscow, Russia
"InterArt". Poznan, Poland
"In Hell" (exhibition/action). Avant-gardists Club (CLAVA), Moscow, Russia
"Steamer" (action). Avant-gardists Club, Moscow, Russia
Mail-Art numerous projects and exhibitions in Europe, America and Japan
1988 "Moscow – Paris – Moscow". Video performance by Abalakova – Zhigalov – Sekal. Paris, France
"In Hell". Part 2. Avant-gardists Club, Moscow, Russia
Mail-Art exhibitions in Poland, Netherlands, USA, Germany, Switzerland
"Labyrinth". Central Youth House, Moscow, Russia
"Geometry in Art". Sadovniki Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Festival of performances. Poznan, Poland
"Art of Today". 2nd International Exhibition. Budapest, Hungary
"Baths". Exhibition/action of Avant-gardists Club. Sandunovsky Baths, gents department, Moscow, Russia
"Expensive Art". Central Youth House, Moscow, Russia
1989 Kostaki Gallery. Athens, Greece
"100 artists from Tatyana and Natasha Kolodzey Collection" Uzbekistan National Museum, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Mail-Art projects and exhibitions
1990 "3rd Art of Today". Budapest, Hungary
"Der Weg". Workshop. Bergen, Germany
"Totalitny Zona". Art Festival. Prague, Czechoslovakia
Mail-Art projects and exhibitions
1991 "3rd Meetings of Vision and Image Theatre". Katowice, Poland
"Konfrontacje Artystyczne, Torun 91". Poland
Mail-Art projects and exhibitions
1992 Exhibition by Hammer Group. Central Exhibition Hall Manege, Moscow, Russia
"Diaspora". Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia
"Diaspora 2". Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia
"The Artist and the Book". Peresvetov Lane Exhibition Hall, Moscow, Russia
"Gateway". Еuropean Project. Art Space Gallery, Portsmouth, Gr. Britain
"Mens sana in corpore sano". Festival of contemporary art, Smolensk, Russia
1993 "777". European artists’ exhibition in Portsmouth, Reykjavik, Deisburg, Barcelona, Orhus, Bratislava, Moscow
"Time and Place". Dubrovnik, Croatia
1994 "Groping in the Dark at Midnight". Video Art Festival, Petrovsky Bvrd; Cinematography Center, Moscow, Russia
"May Exhibition". Kuznetsky Most, Moscow, Russia
"A Leap into Emptiness: the Artist instead of his Work". Еuropean and American avant-garde art, 1910-90". Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia
"Inter-Graphic". Тriennale of Graphic Art. Krakow, Poland and Prague, Czechia
Cetinjski Biennale III. Cetine, Montenegro
"Moskva Swimming Pool". Project by curators of Contemporary Art Institute. Moscow, Russia
Performance Festival. Sadovniki Gallery, Moscow, Russia
1995 "Spirit and Soil". Sadovniki Gallery,
Moscow, Russia
"The Artist and New Technologies" (seminar). Pereslavl-Zalesski, Russia
Тriennale of Graphic Art. Tokyo, Japan
"Inter-Kontakt-Grafika". Prague, Czechia; Krakow, Poland
"Kunst im verborgenen. Nonkonformisten Russland 1957-1995". Collection of contemporary art, Tsaritsino Museum, Russia. Wilhelm-Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen-am-Rhein; Documenta-Halle, Каssel; Staatliches Lindenau Museum, Altenburg,Germany.
1996 "Spring Exhibition". Cite International des Arts, Paris, France. (A. Zhigalov)
"Month of Photography". Contemporary Art Institute, Moscow, Russia
"10-th Anniversary of Avant-gardists Club". Peresvetov Lane Exhibition Hall, Moscow, Russia
"Emergency Exit". Interstudio workshop. N. Abalakova’s master-class. Spider & Mouse Gallery, Moscow, Russia
1997 "Credo". Russian Cultural Foundation, Moscow, Russia
"Metamorphoses of Stil Life & Naturemort". Russian Cultural Foundation, Moscow, Russia
"Verbality in Russian Postmodernist Art". Budapest, Hungary
"Contemporary Art". L. Kashuk’s project. Moscow, Russia
"Art Moscow". Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia
"Artist and His Biography." Budapest, Hungary
"The Best World". Secession. Vienna, Austria.
"Reconstruction of the Artist A. Blagov’s Last Project". Spider & Mouse Gallery, Moscow, Russia
"KUKART-III". International art festival. Tzarskoye Selo, St. Petersburg, Russia
1998 "Russian feminists". Museum of Literature, Moscow, Russia
"Art Moscow". Maly Manege, Moscow, Russia
"The Artist’s and Poet’s Book". Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
Praprintium. Russian Samizdat. Bochum. Germany.
ART MANEGE. Moscow, Russia
1999 "Visual Poetry". Spider & Mouse Gallery, Moscow, Russia
"Artist about Artist". Moscow, Russia
"Russian Art of the late 50s – early 80s". The State Collection of Contemporary Art, Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia
KUKART-4. Tszarskoie Selo, Russia
"Art Manege". Moscow, Russia
"Live & Dead". Escape Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2000 "Dynamic Pairs". Manege, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
Art Festival. Izevsk, Russia
"Art Moscow". Central House of Artists.
"Transition". Gumry Biennale. Spider & Mouse gallery, Moscow, Russia
2001 "Real People". Zverev Art Centre, Moscow, Russia
"Amateur Photography". Escape Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Natalia Abalakova and Anatoly Zhigalov
T O T A R T
"Explorations into the Essence of Art as applied to Life and Art".
From the end of the 1970s Abalakova and Zhigalov who began their artistic career in the 60-s, started working on the Project "Explorations into the Essence of Art as applied to Life and Art". The Project is an extended artistic event or condition that approaches the Russian avant-guarde of the twenties in one direction but also points to the future. The Project is a creative process in which art comes to know itself. The aim is to fill the gap between the Russian avant-guarde and contemporary art, which has been developing under specific conditions of Soviet reality and, based on this reality, seeks a language that will adequately function in both a native and international context.
The following issues are of importance to the Project:
The boundary and definition of art (by means of artistic provocations); merging of life and art and intrusion of life into art (programmed and accidental situations); relationships between the artist and the audience (subject-object-work-audience-viewer etc.); art as a means of communication (an artistic event as a stimulus to creative contact and decision making); a work of art as an open/closed system (an autonomous self-regulating system, that is not destroyed by outside intrusions); art in its social surroundings (engagedness; "order"and "chaos"; art as a society of "free convertible currency"; art as an "erogenous zone" of a social body; art in condition of freedom or captivity, etc.).
The methods of realization of the Project are very varied. It is TOTART – Total Art. The performers of the general Project use the language of paintings and graphics to develop specific "projects"; in TOTART performances, actions, "situations", "accidental theatre", objects, installations, cinema, video are all of particular importance. One of the basic elements of TOTART, however, is artists themselves: they are the subjects and objects of their artistic process; they are Man and Woman – two poles that create a tention in which the audience defines itself with respect to the act of creation of "a work of art", at the same time undergoing a re-evaluation of values and experiencing "the reality"of his/her presence at this particular place and at this particular time.
In their recent individual and joint works the artists pursue polemics with Russian Constructivism where they suggest and develop a new type of active art – TOTART.
