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		TAVASIEV Rostan

Biographical information: 1976, Moscow
1998 graduated the Professional College of Arts and Crafts ¡í 332 named after Carl Faberge on a speciality - The Jeweller of a wide structure
2000 entered the Moscow State Art-industrial University named after Stroganov on a Graphic Design faculty
Lives and works in Moscow

persomal site of artist www.rostan.ru
Collections where works are held
Participation in exhibitions and auctions: Selected Personal Exhibitions:
2007 New Heroism. Galerie Rabouan-Moussion, Paris, France
2006 Poppycock. Aidan Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2005 Synthepon (synthetic winterize). 1st Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Aidan Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2004 The Wall. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2003 Svintus. Lisa P. Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Through Thorns to the Stars. S.art Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Ageing of a Dream. Project OGI, Moscow, Russia
2002 Hyper Comics. Project OGI, Moscow, Russia
2001 Light. Club Dom, Moscow, Russia
2000 Fences. Pushking Club, Moscow, Russia

Selected Group Exhibitions:
2008 Laughterlife. Paradise Row. London, England
2007 Group exhibition of galleries artists. Aidan Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Aziopa. 2nd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow
2006 Innovation, the state prize for contemporary art, Moscow, Russia
Artfield Technology. Zelenograd, Russia
2005 1st Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Lenin Museum, Moscow, Russia
Joy. Art forum Casino Luxembourg. Luxembourg
With or Without? Cultural Center of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
Russian pop-art. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Artfield. Open-air exhibition, Moscow, Russia
Art Klyazma Festival of Contemporary Art, Russia
2004 Art Klyazma Festival of Contemporary Art, Russia
Without Glamour. The Zverev Center of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia
Cosmos (Space). Gallery of one spectator, Moscow, Russia
Festival of an Intimate Photo. Reflex Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Golden Apples, Psychedelic in Russian Fairy Tale. Larec Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Fashion Zone. Argentum Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Comics Festival (the1st prize in a nomination of a Short story photo). Moscow, Russia
2003 New Readout. Digital Russia together with Sony. Central House of Artist, Moscow, Russia
The illustrated Constitution of the Russian Federation. Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia
Art Klyazma Festival of Contemporary Art, Russia
Art Moscow Studios. Central House of Artist, Moscow, Russia
Background. Moscow Metropolitan, Moscow, Russia
Comics Festival, The Sakharov Museum and Public Centre, Moscow, Russia
The 1st exhibition of creative works. The Stroganov University of Arts, Moscow, Russia
The §£est. S.art Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Art Constitution. S.art Gallery, Moscow, Russia
New Year¡¯s Palm-Tree. Club Mucha, Moscow, Russia
2002 Art Klyazma Festival of Contemporary Art, Russia
Moscow by Young. Maly Manege, Moscow, Russia
Euro. The Sakharov Museum and Public Centre, Moscow, Russia
Art in Parallel Contexts. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Art Business Consulting. Project OGI, Moscow, Russia
Long-Day Group. Institute of Problems of the Modern Art, Moscow, Russia
Comics Festival, The Zverev Center of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia
Love to Free-of-Charge 2. Club Cult, Moscow, Russia
Autobiographical notes
What the critics say: Rostan Tavasiev was the youngest participant at the first Moscow Biennial of Contemporary Art. Unlike the rebels and radicals of the late 20th Century, Rostan had not invaded the Moscow art scene; he entered peacefully, wearing the face of a sad Pierrot. I would call his creative work Naive Conceptualism. His installations are, as a rule, almost always made from plushy teddy-bears and bunnies although an elephant, a piglet, even a green tree on a bicycle can pop up. Pink bunnies change their clothes, watch films, travel through space; bunny busts stand proudly like heroes from Antiquity. The artist creates his own mythology, a world where people are replaced by toys, an infantile and closed world of childhood. Sporadically, these puppet-like persons melt into idiotic and aggressive gangs, reminsicent of an absurd gang in a supermarket, or even a group of extremists. Then again, they can be sad, naive and helpless. The attitude of the environment is almost always aggressive toward the artist, especially during historical turmoils, and Russian artists tend to express this pressure in many different ways. For instance, fuming with rage, Saša Brener would run through the showrooms of the jubilee exhibition at the Marat Geljman Gallery, destroying exhibits, and repeatedly asking the same question: »Why am I not included in the exhibition?« Inversely, Jurij Leiderman would stand like a lonesome striker wearing a sign that read: »I am being insulted«. Tavasiev’s lyrical hero, a ragged, plushy teddy-bear deprived of its white cotton-wool soul looks not only ironic and sad but also ridiculous, morose and heart-stirring, making one think of the man in the street so often featured in 19th Century Russian literature. To a great extent, Tavasiev’s recent works are reminsicent either of the Pop Art of young American artists, featuring jolly, insolent and vivacious kitsch, or refined and crystalclear Japanese comic books. The conceptual aesthetics of their component parts seem to be overabundant as compared to contemporary aesthetics, but it is this imbalance which defines the artist’s very own signature. It is his criticism of glamour, the way he seems to feel, which is sentimental and ironic at the same time.
Tatiana Antoshina
Bibliography

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