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Gregori Maiofis |
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Maiofis Gregori
1970 - Born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in the family of artists and architects 1986 - 1989 Studied at the Repin Fine Arts Academy in St.Petersburg at the department of graphic art 1991 -1996 Lived and worked in Los Angeles, USA 2000 - 2002 Created his first photographic series of works entitled "Fables" 2005- Started working on the "Proverbs" series, using alternative photographic techniques - bromoil and Van Dyke 2006 -"Proverbs" received the Betty and Jim Kasson award from the Center for Photographic Art, California, USA 2008- Nominated for the Kandinsky Award, Moscow, Russia Currently lives and works in St. Petersburg Sometimes a Bear is Other Than a Bear Born in St. Petersburg into a family of artistically-driven people, Gregori Maiofis inherited what was surely a genetic disposition to the visual. This inclination could only have been enhanced by a childhood influenced by his grandparents –both grandfather and grandmother – were architects, and his father, a well known graphic artist and book illustrator in Russia. From his earliest years Gregori Maiofis – as most children do – loved to draw with pencils and crayons. The difference is that his artist-father keenly observed, appreciated and guided his young son’s efforts. His father’s studio became the playground for a young boy where his fantasies and imagination took flight and everyday objects were transformed into magical impressions. The raw materials were provided, a variety of graphic techniques were available, and the young Gregori had the run of the kingdom with the permission and blessing of his artistic parents. At the age of sixteen, Gregori Maiofis had the benefit of academic drawing and painting lessons, based on the study of old masters, by a teacher (unknown to the West) but who set his talented young student on a new course of inquiry. With discipline and devoted study, Gregori Maiofis began formal training at an arts academy in St. Petersburg. He persevered for two years before deciding to pursue independent projects. One suspects that he was a restless, talented and energetic teenager who wanted to taste, test and try everything. The year 1989 marked the beginning of what Maiofis considers his real artistic activity. When his family moved to the United States two years later, in 1991, Gregori Maiofis realized that the questions and concerns that confront sentient beings had no geographic boundaries or location, and thus began his artistic journey and his identity as artist. As an outsider in the foreign yet multi-cultural city of Los Angeles, the 21-year-old, Russian-born Maiofis continued to paint. The five years spent in the United States brought an awareness of issues and considerations that stayed with him as he returned to live in St. Petersburg. There he began to integrate his American experience and artistic ideas with his Russian heritage and education. To produce the images that convey his fatalistic and ironic approach to life, tinged with hope, he needed the environment and knowledge of Mother Russia, oiled with a bit of bribery to certain circus trainers. Enter the Great Russian Bear, the personification of Russia for the last several centuries, onto center stage and into his studio. The bear is recognized as both brutish and cute – Misha was the mascot for the 1980 Olympic Games - and has remained a symbol of Russia since Tsarist times. In 2009 it is the symbol of the United Russia Party. Maiofis began to create his series of “Proverbs. “ Sometimes a bear is other than a bear. The photographer convinced a circus trainer to bring his 400+ pound bear to his studio, a task which involved transporting the large animal to the eighth floor in an elevator. Once in the studio, Maiofis staged tableaux in which the bear becomes an almost mindful being; a participant in the conceptual dance. In an early photograph, the bear sits in a chair, facing a full-length mirror and flanked by a man in a bear costume. The bear seems to look beyond his image, seemingly more intelligent than the man in the silly costume who is clearly trying to be something he is not. The piece is entitled, “Know Thyself.” Another photograph features a (very trusting) woman sitting on a bed , her chin resting on her hand in an attitude of resignation. The bear (Mother Russia?) sits beside her, his paw with enormous claws, resting gently on the shoulder of the forlorn woman. The image is startling in its stark contrasts – the white of the woman’s skin and nightdress against the dark fur, the disparity in size and species of the two creatures, and the absence of any cultural or other artifacts in the setting. It is as unbelievably poignant as the title, “Adversity Makes Strange Bedfellows.” In a second image, the bear sits alone in the middle of the bed, a single pair of high-heeled women’s shoes resting on the floor in front of him. They are the only other evidence of a presence in the room. Maiofis draws the title, “Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows,” from an old English proverb, for in Russian there is “no mention of bedfellows,” states the artist. In another remarkable image, the huge bear sits at a table with his paws poised on either side of an upraised book, seeming for all the world that he is completely engrossed in a good story. The book is by Lenin, and Maiofis titles the piece, “Lenin’s Science Makes One’s Hands and Mind Stronger,” a saying derived from a dictionary of Russian folk proverbs that was published in the mid-1950s in the Soviet Union. Among his best bear images are those with shocking contrasts. In three images, Maiofis pairs a ballet dancer, her long limbed frame elegantly clad in classic tutu, with the lumbering, furry bear. Their pas-de-deux is performed on a rough, paint-spattered floor and framed by a wall bisected by electrical wire, but the palpable connection between the beautiful ballerina and her incongruous admirer overshadows the environment. The bear sits on the floor and gazes at the ballerina, whose slipper and tutu touch his ursine body. In another image, the seated bear looms in the foreground watching as the ballerina fixes a dazzling smile upon her audience of one. In one of the photographer’s most touching images, the bear lifts his paw in seeming imitation of the ballerina’s uplifted arm, philosophically entitled, “In Time, Even a Bear May Be Taught to Dance.” This image is, in a sense, an allegorical representation of the dualities that have defined the Russian experience: great music, ballet and literature have been spawned by the same people that for centuries were ruled in harsh conditions by brutal dictatorships. Maiofis would probably reply, “It could be, or maybe not.” Other “Proverbs” in which Gregori Maiofis uses a circus monkey as subject seem all too human. The monkey holds a violin, his eyes closed as though in rapture to the music: “If You Have Nothing to Say, Say Nothing,” is the message. Another image featuring a monkey seemingly casting his vote in a ballot box is entitled “Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery,” an ironic commentary on the spread of democracy. The monkey is dressed like a human and willing to do the right thing, but he cannot be trusted completely so a guiding hand is there…shades of recent elections over the last several years? With a heavier hand, Maiofis frames a small monkey holding a dumbbell, towered over by a dominatrix. “God Makes the Back to the Burden” perhaps symbolizes the endurance of the Russian people and the philosophy that has helped them to survive centuries of hardship. The photographer’s artistic influences, both of father and grandparents, as well as his own training as a painter, are evident both in subject matter and in the photographic prints themselves. In the series of images with the ballerina, a painter (in two cases the photographer himself) sits at his easel, translating the scene into a painted image. In “Figurative Painting” the artist renders the bear and ballerina as porcelain figures, objects that were extremely popular in the Soviet days. In another, Gregori Maiofis takes witty aim at high art. Orchestrating a performance amidst the clutter of his studio, Maiofis frames an artist painting at his easel as the ballerina strikes a pose from the ballet Swan Lake, her leg elegantly extended with toe pointed and arms gracefully outstretched. The viewer is privy to both the pose and the painter’s interpretation on his canvas -- a feathered swan swimming in water. Some of Gregori Maiofis’ photographs directly reference his Russian heritage. While the focus of “Two Heads are Better than One,” is on a grinning two-headed skeleton, a monument looms in the background, crowned by the double –headed eagle that has been the symbol of many great empires, Russia among them. Other work embraces broader philosophical issues that reach beyond geographical and cultural boundaries. In “Half Truth is a Whole Lie,” a middle-aged woman seated at her dressing table is revealed in a three-part mirror. Half of her face is reflected in each of the left and right sides of the mirror, but the viewer cannot see the view reflected in the center. Two nude women, except for high boots on their feet, dance in tandem, lost in a sublime moment. “Those Who Do Not Hear the Music May Think the Dancers are Mad,” observes the photographer. In a painterly image, a Van Dyke photographic print with applied watercolor, a classically-posed female figure holds a water ewer on her shoulder. Arrayed only in chromatic color, the young woman seems rooted in place like a statue, no doubt dreaming of elsewhere. “Blue Are the Hills that are Far Away,” the photographer opines. This image is the only one in Maiofis series of “proverbs” that references another artist’s work, in this case Rene Magritte’s painting entitled, “Les bons jours de Monsieur Ingres.” In the image “House is Burning, Clock is Running,” a watch repairman bends to his task, his attention intently focused on a pocket watch before him. With a loupe affixed to his eye and his special tool poised over the watch, he is oblivious to everything around him: the clocks argue the time, with only two in agreement, the television reflects the horror of the twin towers burning in New York, and the light outside his cubbyhole suggests a conflagration in the next room. In a sense, this proverb summarizes Maiofis’ philosophical approach to his art-making as he combines an ironic sense of humor with a fatalistic approach to life. Technically, Gregori Maiofis is a superb craftsman who has mastered difficult photographic processes such as bromoil, which requires a hands-on approach to produce unique prints. His photographs have the look and feel of old master prints, which is perfectly suited to his subject matter. His bromoil images have a painterly quality with their textured surfaces and subtle palette. Maiofis has produced a significant number of other photographic series that are beyond the scope of this current exhibition. Presented here are images derived from and deeply rooted in the artist’s reflections on the timeless philosophical issues that confront human beings. Inspired by his study of literature and history, he ably posits difficult truths framed with wit and humor that transcend cultural and geographical boundaries. Sometimes a bear is just a (Teddy) bear and sometimes a bear symbolizes a whole culture. Karen Sinsheimer, Curator of Photography, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California (When citing Karen Sinsheimer's article, a reference to Barbarian Art Gallery is required) The new liberated generation of artists from St. Petersburg unburdened from a necessity to win back the achievements of the avant-garde from the official culture, voluntarily and ironically proclaimed the classical art to be “the national style” (although one has to say this has already been done by the tourist industry and show business.) The artist Gregori Maiofis who grew up and studied in St. Petersburg, the capital of classical museum style, had to make his way from the academic art through the American school of new art techniques in order to return to classicism at a new level. This time, however, he comes back to 'age-old' staged black and white photography and 'traditional' Russian themes. The artist's favoured motifs of photography style are the ballet and animal circus - the old fetishes of Russian and Soviet culture. The approach used by Maiofis is notable because he employs not only the “old” method of photo printing, but also the 'old' mechanism of generating meaning; he revives once more such a relationship between the image and meaning (text) that had been a taboo in the high art of photography since photography gained a status of 'high art'. Humorous photography that depicts “entertaining stories” or illustrates in a very literal (nearly too deliberate) manner well known sayings and fables were in vogue at the very onset of photography in a form of anonymous postcards and newspaper reproductions. They had a common ancestor with comic strips—the genre of “a funny story in pictures". With the enjoyment of an antiquarian, Maiofis restores these relics of bygone naivety and reconstructs the lost “innocence” of the photography used to amuse the general public at the dawn of this genre. The artist himself names his photography “pseudo archeology.” “Pseudo”, because the artist does not see it as being his task to consistently recreate the lost paradigm. What we see is a buffoonery of disguises. Natasha Ganahl, Barbarian Art Gallery (When citing Natasha Ghanal's article, a reference to Barbarian Art Gallery is required) 2008 - "Proverbs", De Santos Gallery, Houston, Texas
Selected group exhibitions 2008 - Exhibition of Kandinsky Award Nominees, Moscow, Russia 2008 - Power of Water, State Russian Museum, St.Petersburg, Russia 2008 - Manifesto of Convictions, Gallery "Barbarian Art", Zürich, Switzerland 2008 - Art Moscow Select, Moscow, Russia 2008 - Young Gallerist, Young Collectors, pop/off/art gallery, Moscow, Russia 2008 - Art Moscow, International Art Fair, Moscow, Russia 2008 - Herning Art Fair, Denmark
2008 - 'Intimate Diaries', Barbarian Art Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland 2007 - Ecce Homo Gallery, Wien, Austria
Auction Preview in The World Art Museum and Double Tree Hotel, Houston, Texas, USA 2006 - "No Eyes. Collection Dancing Bear", Musee de L'Elysee, Lausanne, Switzerland 2006 - Photo LA, Los Angeles, CA, USA 2006 - "Sans Regard, or No Eyes: Looking at", exhibition Collection Dancing Bear within the frameworks of International Photography Festival in Arles, France 2005 - "Collage in Russia. XX Century" State Russian Museum , St. Petersburg, Russia 2005 - 9th international art fair "Art-Moscow", St. Petersburg, Russia 2004 - 8th international art fair "Art-Moscow", St. Petersburg 2004 - participant of Meeting Place PhotoFest within the framework of X International Photography Biennale FotoFest, Houston, USA 2003 - "International Photo-Festival", Bratislava , Slovakia 2003 - "Autumn Photomarathon - from Petersburg to Moscow", Reflex Gallery, Moscow, Russia 2003 - "Photography and Cinema", within the frameworks of Autumn Photomaraphon, St. Petersburg 2000 - "Graphic Art from the Collection of the Irbit Art Museum", St. Peterburg, Russia 1998 - Art Manege, Moscow, Russia 1997 - "Filonov Cubed", Art Manege, Moscow, Russia 1997 - Spring Art Salon, Manege, Moscow, Russia 1996 - "Artopia" Festival, Nashville, Tennessee, USA 1996 - "200 years of Art in Tennessee", Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, Tennessee, USA 1996 - Art Manege, Moscow, Russia 1991 - "Five Young Artists from Leningrad", ESEC Academy, Paris, France Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California Santa Barbara Museum of Modern Art, Santa Barbara, California Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia Ivanovo Regional Art Museum, Ivanovo, Russia Irbit State Museum of Fine Arts, Irbit, Russia Kemerovo Regional Art Museum , Kemerovo , Russia Kurgan Regional Art Museum, Kurgan, Russia Kursk Regional Art Gallery n.a. Deineka, Kursk, Russia Omsk Regional Museum of Fine Arts n.a. Vrubel, Omsk, Russia Penza Regional Art Gallery n.a. Savitsky, Penza, Russia Sakhalin Art Museum, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia Tomsk Regional Art Museum, Tomsk, Russia Tula Museum of FineArt, Tula, Russia Yaroslavl Art Museum, Yaroslavl, Russia
Doug March collection, Los Angeles, California Artemy Troitsky collection, Moscow, Russia Sergey Popov collection, Moscow, Russia Boris Fish collection, Moscow, Russia Andrew Schwarz, Los Angeles, California, USA Kim Weston, Carmel, California, USA Robert Weigarten, Los Angeles, California, USA Melody Bostick and Richard Sullivan, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA Gemma and Luis De Santos, Houston, Texas, USA Vyacheslav Kantor, Moscow, Russia Mikhail Tsarev, Moscow, Russia Aslan Chahoyev, St Petersburg, Russia "Dancing Bear" Collection, New York, USA Collection of Joachim Paiva, Brasilia, Brazil SG Private Banking Collection, Geneva, Switzerland Alexander Smuzikov's Collection, Moscow, Russia Victor Bondarenko Collection, Moscow, Russia Dmitry Kovalenko Collection, Moscow, Russia Other private collections in UK, Germany, Italy, Canada, USA, France, Russia, and Switzerland
2006 – Betty and Jim Kasson award, USA |
