16 Sep Mark Moore Gallery presents ЗЕРКАЛО by Dimitri Kozyrev & New Work by Tomokazu Matsuyama
ЗЕРКАЛО (Mirror) – Dimitri Kozyrev
Open Friday and Saturday through art weekend LA.
Show Runs Through: September 8th – October 27th, 2012
Mark Moore Gallery proudly presents “ЗЕРКАЛО (Mirror),” an exhibition of new works by Russian painter, Dimitri Kozyrev. Marking the artist’s second solo show with the gallery, “ЗЕРКАЛО” encompasses the artist’s signature visual and conceptual dichotomies, with a compelling development in figuration. Kozyrev drew inspiration from Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky’s film, Zerkalo, from which the title for this show was derived. Through a series of bold paintings, Kozyrev explores the polarities and intersections of his divergent selfhood with equally varied techniques, allusions, and palettes in much the same way that Tarkovsky juxtaposed similar elements to move between the past and present.
At once gestural and structured, organic and geometric, expressive and composed, Kozyrev’s painterly multiplicity bespeaks a personal hybridity. Once a Soviet Air Force soldier and now an American university professor, Kozyrev evokes a sense of duality with his manifold imagery – an optical migration that parallels his own. Fractured terrains summon both war-torn landscapes and elegant Bauhaus architecture, an unlikely synthesis that sets Kozyrev’s two-dimensional forms into illusory movement. Geometric elements of Russian suprematism and constructivism coalesce with the gesticulation of abstract expressionism, forging a topography that is as nostalgic as it is uncharted. Kozyrev’s manipulation of depth and shape produces shifting planes and ruptured formations that splinter and contort in a projected physical and mental space, an angular contouring that the artist likens to “scars.” Much like their bodily counterparts, these conceptual lesions mend the visual and social chasms that are often considered autonomous – forging a seamless union analogous to the artist’s composite experiences.
Dimitri Kozyrev (born 1967, St. Petersburg, Russia) received his MFA from the University of California, Santa Barbara (CA), and has since had solo exhibitions in New York, Santa Fe, Los Angeles, and Chicago. His work has been exhibited at Krasnoyarsk VIII Biennale, Museum of Contemporary Art, Russia, the Tucson Museum of Art (AZ), MOCA (AZ), Gulf Coast Museum of Art (FL), Santa Monica Museum of Art (CA) and the Armory Show (NY), as well as an exhibition organized by the Torrance Art Museum (CA). Kozyrev’s work has been acquired by the Berkus Family Collection (CA), Wellington Collection (MA), UCSB Art Museum (CA), and he is the recipient of the Abrams Prize (CA) and Art Omi Residency (NY). The artist lives and works in Tucson, AZ.
New Work by Tomokazu Matsuyama
Mark Moore Gallery is pleased to announce “New Work,” a presentation of paintings by artist Tomokazu Matsuyama in the Project Room. The exhibition will mark the artist’s first solo show with the gallery, as well as within Los Angeles. Featuring seven new vivid compositions and one small-scale sculpture, the exhibition will showcase Matsuyama’s dexterous combination of graphic sensibility and Japanese iconography.
Drawing upon his own bicultural experience of living in both Japan and the United States, Matsuyama explores issues of shifting identity. Appropriated imagery from Japanese folklore and art history seamlessly intertwine with western painterly influences such as Abstract Expressionism and, more contemporaneously, street art. Small shards of geometric shapes forge larger composite forms; exaggerated auspicious caricatures backdropped by varying patterns and frenetic Pollock-like splatters. As if constructed by collage, each figure floats against an atmospheric ombré background reminiscent of a dusky sky. Each painting achieves balances through equal parts chaos and control, the result of which is a hyperkinetic tableau with a dream-like mood. Referencing Japanese traditionalism, Matsuyama’s creations begin with a focus on recollection and storytelling through allegorical figuration. Fused with these tropes are Matsuyama’s western aesthetic influences – as seen in his pop-cultural use of illustrative technique and florescent color palette. His unconventionally shaped paintings act as statements about today’s larger global society, which refutes autonomous cultural boundaries by embracing notions of fusion and hybridity.
Matsuyama was born in Tokyo in 1976 and received his MFA in Communications Design from the Pratt Institute (NY). He has had solo exhibitions in New York, San Francisco, Tokyo and Osaka, including his most recent at the Katzen Arts Center in Washington D.C. His work can be seen in the public collections of the Cosmopolitan Hotel Group (NV) and the Royal Family (Dubai, UAE), The Standard Hotel (Andre Balazs Group) as well as commissioned projects with Burton Snowboards, LeSportSac, Nike, and Levi Strauss brand collections. He is also currently one of three finalists for the Japanese National Culture and Arts Affairs award, the most generous grant given to a Japanese artist living abroad. He lives and works in New York City (NY).
Mark Moore Gallery
5790 West Washington Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 453-3031
Tuesday – Saturday: 11am to 6pm and by appointment
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