Ruarts Gallery, together with Inloco, present ‘Have a Good Journey’, the first solo exhibition by Nikita Dusto. A new project by the St. Petersburg street wave artist immerses us in a world where the movement of time loses all meaning. Dusto creates a space in which the invisible lyrical hero finds himself trapped in a closed cycle. The paradox of movement devoid of any real change serves as the central theme of the entire exhibition.
More than 30 of the artist’s works, created between 2022 and 2024, transport the viewer from point A to point B. This is a journey and the search for orientation in life. Strange, at times absurd, but always profound visual images render the impression that despite any external dynamics, the inner world of the hero remains unchanged, and this stagnation is alarming. “Day after day we strive to become better and occasionally, in the moment, we succeed, but more often we realize that nothing has changed, we’re back in the same place,” explains the artist.
One of the key images in the project is the Ouroboros – a serpent or dragon devouring its own tail. This is an ancient symbol of cyclicality, the alternation of life and death, the constancy of change, and for Nikita this means running in circles and self-flagellation. Entering into dialogue with it is an important graphic element for the author – the circular aerosol lines taken from Dusto’s street experiments that became his distinctive emblem. In addition to the ‘tail-eater’ itself, one of the works at the exhibition depicts an icebreaker, symbolically dubbed the ‘Ouroboros’. Another recurring and almost obsessive image is hogweed, for the artist a synonym for his ‘journey’. The outside world is a road with fields of hogweed constantly flashing past the window, and the hero’s internal inertia, the impossibility of changing anything, appears as a lopsided stop somewhere along the way.
Along with the subject content, an important role for interpretation of these works is played by the already recognizable colour combination for Dusto, revealed in this project from another angle. Pale green tones bring to mind the walls of public and administrative buildings, from entrances to hospitals, while the red hues recall emergency signals, and ultimately, blood, or rather the circulatory system, another looped process of life.
“‘Have a Good Journey’ is not a wish, but instead an ironic reminder of how easily we can be lost in an endless cycle where there is no simple answer to the question: where are we really going?” says Catherine Borissoff, curator of the exhibition and Art Director of the Ruarts Foundation and Gallery.
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