A timeless view of people in postsocialist, neoliberal Russia

Olga Chernysheva (*1962 in Moscow) does not deal with concepts of “society” and “system” as abstract constructions. Instead, she starts with the individual in order to demonstrate how the smallest entity sustains and determines the sociopolitical structure—and is likewise sustained and determined by it. Foreign workers waiting, traveling salesmen, bustling market women, ladies wrapped in fur—the artist’s gift of observation, reinforced by empathy, is also reflected in the broad spectrum of her forms of expression: from film and photography to painting, watercolors, and drawing, each medium serves the nuanced depiction of her complex subjects while at the same time highlighting how worthy the “little people” are of being photographed against the backdrop of great upheavals. Unlike nineteenth-century Russian Realism or early Soviet films, Chernysheva does not make any kind of sociocritical accusations, and she is indifferent to media-specific experimentation.

Exhibition schedule: Kunsthalle im Haus zum Roten Ochsen, Erfurt, July 4–August 25, 2013