Elite Club, Ltd.

Artem Mirolevich and Russian Pavilion

artemElite Club Ltd. met with Artem Mirolevich to learn more about his cosmopolitan life and his vision of alternative universe. Artem Mirolevich was born in Minsk, Belorrussia, and at age 17 he moved to the USA. Artem graduated from a School of Visual Arts in NYC and spend a year in Amsterdam at Gerrit Rietveld Academy of Art. Today, Artem’s work is a mixture of Surrealism, Impressionism and Japanese printmaking. Artem participated in many shows and exhibits around the world and collaborated on badass illustration work with the Wu-Tang Clan, Groove Corps and Empire Records. Barbarian Art Gallery in Zurich sold series of Mirolevich’s etchings in 2010, among them Sunken City and Tree of Life. In 2013 The Museum of Russian Art (TMORA) in Minneapolis displayed Mirolevich’s work in the show “Concerning the Spiritual in Russian Art, 1965-2011”.

Elite Club: Artem, what inspires you?
Artem: My relationship with the world is “post-apocalyptic Romanticism. I think of the earth as a boat or a vessel for mankind through the macro-universe.

Elite Club: How would you describe your work and technique?
Artem: I paint the meticulous deconstruction of the physical earth into its figurative elements, turning to such media as oil, gouache, wire and ink.

Elite Club: We heard about the Russian Pavilion project, could you please tell us more?
Artem: The Russian Pavilion is a juried exhibition showcasing emerging, mid- career and established artists from Russia, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Baltic regions during leading international fairs of contemporary and modern art. The Russian Pavilion is envisioned as a forum for critics, collectors and connoisseurs to view the works and to have a unique possibility to meet some of the artists in person. Several cultural institutions in the United State supported the idea of Russian Pavilion and became its cultural partners, including the Museum of Russian Art (New Jersey), the Kolodzei Art Foundation, Kavachnina Contemporary, Northern Cross and the Russian American Cultural Center.

Elite Club: What is the mission of the Russian Pavilion?
Artem: Such presentations of Russian culture abroad are certainly not new. Sergei Diaghilev (1872-1929) was one of the first advocates for Russian art and culture abroad. The 1907 Russian Seasons Abroad tour was a sensation for European audiences and a triumph for Russian art. The Russian Pavilion continues the tradition of Russian Seasons into the 21st century by presenting contemporary living artists from different locations. This inaugural Russian Pavilion NY also coincided with the centennial of the famous 1913 New York Armory Show which introduced the American public to European avant-garde painting and sculpture, including works by such European modernists as Paul Cezanne, Marcel Duchamp, Pablo Picasso, Paul Gauguin and others. I am the initiator of the Russian Pavilion and my fellow friend the artist Valery Yershov also contributed to the spirit of the Armory Show centennial in New York by continuing the introduction of international artists to the American public.

Elite Club: What artists are participating in the project?
Artem: The artists range widely in age and country of origin. They cover several generations, from Ernst Neizvestny (1925) to Dasha Fursey (1983), Sasha Meret(1955), Igor Vishnyakov(1968), Igor Molochevsky (1976), Blue Noses Group(founded in 1999 by Viacheslav Mizin and Alexander Shaburov) and others. Coming from different backgrounds and now residing in the United States, Europe and Russia emerging and well-known artists experiment with traditional and new media in search for self-expression and a unique creative vision. Russian Pavilion features paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, photography, video installations and performances and strives for highest quality and originality. Russian Pavilion embraces Russian culture in the United States plus cultural and historical memory and intercultural interpretations. Some of the artworks presented in the show strike and amaze the viewer’s imagination, emphasizing their unique-subjective human essence, with meaning shifting just beneath the surface. The juxtaposition and collision of different artistic individualities, styles and media make the Russian Pavilion of great interest to today’s public.

Please learn more about this amazing project and become a sponsor www.russianartpavilion.com