This is the first United States museum exhibition of the Russian painter and installation artist Valery Koshlyakov, who was selected to represent Russia at the 2003 Venice Biennial. Based in Moscow and Berlin he will be the Davis Museum and Cultural Center’s second artist in residence this year. He also will realize works on site for the museum’s lobby starting September 27th, with an exhibition to be inaugurated in October 2004.

Koshlyakov is primarily known for painting on large scale cardboard that is suspended from the ceiling. He also “draws” with tape directly on the gallery walls. He depicts monuments (such as the Kremlin) and places within Europe, transforming them into symbols of cultural heritage and politics. His use of cardboard can be read in the context of European artists in the 1960s (such as Daniel Spoerri; Villeglé; Raymond Hains) who sought to work with found objects and to redefine painting. Koshlyakov also engages a Russian tradition of using such materials.

Valery Koshlyakov was born in 1962 in the Southern Region of Russia (Salsk, Rostov) where he was trained as a stage decorator in theatres and was active in the underground art scenes in Rostov and then in Moscow as of 1989. Considered one of the major contemporary Russian artists, Koshlyakov is currently working for his upcoming exhibition at the Salpetrière in Paris (to open June 24th) which will then travel to Italy. A major retrospective of his work is being planned by the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow which recently acquired his work.

Funded by the Davis Fund for Russian Area Studies.