Artists

		Artworks: Click here
		SALAKHOVA Aidan

Biographical information: 1964 born in Moscow
1987 Surikov Art Institut, Moscow
1989-92 curator and co-director of 1st Gallery, Moscow
1992 founder and owner of Aidan Gallery
Collections where works are held: Государственная Третьяковская галерея, Москва
Московский музей современного искусства, Москва
Галерея Faridek Cadot, Нью-Йорк
Berman-E.N. Gallery, Нью-Йорк
Sproviery’s Gallery, Рим
Participation in exhibitions and auctions: SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2009 Antinomia. Museum of modern art, Palermo
2008 Persian Miniatures. XL Gallery, Moscow
2006 Aidan. Moscow Museum of modern art, Moscow
2005 I Love myself. XL Gallery, Moscow
2005 My bride. Moscow house of photography, Moscow
2004 Habibi. D-137 gallery, St.Petersburg
2004 MMS. XL Gallery, Moscow
2003 Habibi. Volker Diehl gallery, Berlin
2002 Qa’bah. XL gallery, Moscow
2001 Tableux Vivants. D-137 gallery. St.Petersburg
2000 Sleeping Beauty. Kunstlerhaus Bethanien. Berlin
1999 Suspense. XL Gallery, Moscow
1998 Diva. XL Gallery in Manege, Moscow
1996 New Acquisitions. XL Gallery, Moscow
1992 Galleria Sprovieri, Rome
1992 Leda and the Swan. Berman E.N.Gallery, New York
1991 Golden Confession. 1st Gallery, Moscow
1990Farideh Cadot Gallery, New York
1990Visual Stimulation. 1st Gallery, Moscow

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2009 Sketches of installations. XL Gallery, Moscow
2005 Gender-bender. Moscow biennale special program. Museum of modern art, Moscow
2003 XL Style. XL Gallery, Moscow
2002 Femme art. Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow
2002 Contemporary Russian painting. XL Gallery at New Manege, Moscow
2001 Dream team. XL Gallery. Moscow
1999 «Forum of the new art initiatives». New Manege, Moscow
1999 "After the wall". Moderna Museet. Stockholm
1999 «Russia without contemorary art museum». XL Gallery, Leverkusen, Germany
1996-97 «Moscow Studio USA tour». Corcoran Museum, Washington D.C.
1995 «in Moskau... in Moskau...». Badischer Kunstverein, Carlsruhe, Germany
1993 «Renaissance and Resistance». Russian Museum, St.Petersburg
1993 «Collection d`Art Contemporain RINACO. Moscou 1993». Caisse des Depots et Consignations - 56 rue Jacob, Paris
1992 «a Mosca... a Mosca...». Villa Campoleto, Ercolano; Galleria Comunale d`Arte Moderna, Bologna, Italy
1991 «Contemporary Moscow Artists». Seibu Art Forum, Tokyo
1991 «Aesthetic Studies». Kuskovo Estate Museum, Moscow
1991 «Roma-Mosca. Artisti d`oggi al confronto». Galleria Sprovieri, Rome
1990 La Biennale di Venezia. Soviet pavilion, Venice
1989 «Rauschenberg to us, we to Rauschenberg». 1st Gallery, Moscow
1989 «Cheap Art». 1st Gallery, Moscow
1988 «War and Peace». Hamburg; Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow; Hermitage, Leningrad
1988 «Labyrinth». Moscow Youth Palace
Autobiographical notes
What the critics say: With the exhibition “Aidan,” the Moscow Museum of Modern Art and XL Gallery are starting the program “Moscow Contemporary,” a series of retrospectives of masters of contemporary art. The current exhibition covers a long period and a breadth of genres in the work of Aidan Salakhova – a curator, gallerist and teacher at the Surikov Art Institute. One of the central works at the exhibition, “Golden Mean,” speaks eloquently of the artist’s aspiration to achieve harmony, a state in art where the parts fully fit the whole, and the whole is in accord with its components. Harmony is not only about art’s physical forms, but about the mental content that penetrates form and ultimately becomes an integral part of it. Salakhova achieves this in all her works, be they paintings, drawings, installations or videos. It is significant that her art is clearly built on the struggle and absolute merging of opposites. Salakhova’s art is about faithfulness to high traditions and flawless mastery of techniques that have been part of art for centuries, and yet it has innovation and technologies that became part of the arsenal of art not long ago. It is about serenity and anxiety, conflict and peace, provocation and the effacement of contradictions. It is about irony and gravity, cold and heat, clean air and pungent smells. Salakhova’s works paradoxically combine the potentially shocking with beauty in the classical sense. They mix an interest in Eastern traditions with total engagement in the global context. Naturally, this is the eternal gap between the masculine and the feminine and their ultimate inseparability, in terms of biology, culture, philosophy, or sociology. It is about day and night and the sun and the moon, constantly replacing each other in a revolution that makes possible life, and consequently art. “Aidan,” which shows early works from the beginning of the 1990s and very recent ones, demonstrates how the artist has stayed true to her chosen path while perfecting her skill in all its manifestations. Her works are made exactly as they should be – it’s impossible to add or remove anything. Yet they do not become monuments to themselves; they live a secret life, they fall asleep and wake up, like the heroine of one of Salakhova’s videos. Osip Mandelstam once wrote: “Heaviness and tenderness are sisters, their features are alike...” Salakhova’s art, despite all its differences with Mandelstam’s poetry, is about the same thing. It shows that the contradictions between heaviness and tenderness, questions and answers, or the sun and the moon are nothing but an illusion – as long as they are handled by a master.
Nikita Alexeev
Bibliography: V. Solovyova. Aidan Salakhova. "I Love Myself" // Time Out Moscow. November 21-27, 2005, p. 83
B. Droitcour. Looking Behind the Veil // The Moscow Times. December 2, 2005 M.
A. Kharchenko. Feminism cubed // Kommersant. April 6, 2002

Request more information about artist