Ruarts Gallery presents ‘The Song Is Sung’, a solo exhibition by Dmitry Tsvetkov. The viewer will see new works – graphics and objects specially created for the project. As before, Tsvetkov’s visual language is based on his tiny men, the ‘Tsvetkov people’, which will also be presented at the exhibition as separate objects.
The title ‘The Song Is Sung’ came from life and this is not a tragic end, but rather irony. From the start Tsvetkov called his musical drawings ‘lullabies’ or ‘songs’, and they served as an outlet in his spare time from exhausting commercial orders. According to the author, he started his graphic series on lines from his favourite poets more than 20 years ago. ‘Lullaby’ with verse by Joseph Brodsky was first exhibited in the exhibition ‘Personal Space’, held at the Ruarts Gallery in December 2022, and several of Tsvetkov’s music sheets have already been showcased at the Museum of Moscow, in Krasnoyarsk and Berlin. Now this has finally grown into a separate large-scale project.
The title ‘The Song Is Sung’ came from life and this is not a tragic end, but rather irony. From the start Tsvetkov called his musical drawings ‘lullabies’ or ‘songs’, and they served as an outlet in his spare time from exhausting commercial orders. According to the author, he started his graphic series on lines from his favourite poets more than 20 years ago. ‘Lullaby’ with verse by Joseph Brodsky was first exhibited in the exhibition ‘Personal Space’, held at the Ruarts Gallery in December 2022, and several of Tsvetkov’s music sheets have already been showcased at the Museum of Moscow, in Krasnoyarsk and Berlin. Now this has finally grown into a separate large-scale project.
Tsvetkov’s long-term creative search led to the unification of poetry and music in his graphic works. The artist turns to inner feelings, to musical phrases that make the ‘Tsvetkov people’ dance. So the little men play leading roles in the given scenario of the exhibition. “When I draw my ‘small beaded evil spirits’, music is composed – strange music made from hooks and little men that is understandable only to me, “ says Tsvetkov of his project. “I didn’t study at the Conservatoire or learn solfeggio, in my case it doesn’t really matter. I draw my music, drawing painstakingly and slowly. It’s impossible to fight this, it’s part of me.”
In addition to a series of sheets, the exhibition will feature objects in the form of drums and a cello that are called on to ‘play’ the artist’s silent melody. Having removed the main purpose of these objects, that of emitting sound, Tsvetkov creates simulacra – symbols rather than real instruments. A shift of emphasis from the utilitarian essence of objects to the category of aesthetics raises the question of the purpose of art. “Art doesn’t owe anyone anything, certainly it doesn’t have to be useful. The goal of art is art,” insists Dmitry Tsvetkov.
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Dmitry Tsvetkov Born in 1961 in Kolomna. In 1988, the artist graduated from the faculty of painting in Moscow State Art Institute named after V.I. Surikov. From 1988 to 1991, Tsvetkov worked at the monumental painting workshop in Moscow. From 1991 to 1993, he lived and worked in New York. In 1996–1997, Tsvetkov worked as an artist in The Moscow Times newspaper. From 1998 to 2001, he worked as an artist in the Izvestia newspaper. In 2006, Tsvetkov became a scholarship holder of the Joseph Brodsky Foundation in Rome. In 2007, he was awarded with the Master Prize (an initiative of the curators of Kovcheg Gallery, Moscow) for the best exhibition of the year. In 2010, he interned at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, Italy. The artist was a Kandinsky Prize nominee in 2008, 2009, 2012. In addition to paintings and graphic works, Dmitry Tsvetkov creates works using decorative and applied techniques, such as sewing, beadwork, embroidery, knitting and tapestries creating. Clothing, accessories, toys and household items are not functional objects for the author, but a medium and material for the artistic practice. Lives and works in Moscow.
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