Means to No End: Vladyslav Krasnoshchok and Olga Starostina

Hooks-Epstein Galleries presents Means to No End: Vladyslav Krasnoshchok and Olga Starostina on view July 11 – August 15, 2015. Reception for the artists Saturday, July 11 from 2-5 pm Presentation by Edward Lane McCartney and Sandie Zilker at 4pm.

“Means to No end”  is a collaboration between two Artists: Ukrainian Vlad Krasnoshchok and Russian Olga Starostina. Even though their countries are currently at war this exhibition is proof that art removes all borders and boundaries.

Since mixed media artist Krasnoshchok is also a successful photographer, photography is always one of the main components of his work. Starostina is also a jeweler who works primarily with recycled aluminum adds her metalsmithing skills to the equation. It is the beauty of the surface which emerges when molten aluminum is poured which fascinates her.

The two artists met during the FotoFest 2012 biennial which focused on contemporary Russian photography and begun their collaboration. The main part of this collaboration grew out of Vladyslav’s series “Negatives are Stored” which is based on old cabinet portraits from the beginning of the 20th century.

He buys these portraits at flea markets in Kharkov and alters them in order to revive them, giving them new meaning and life. In her part of the collaboration, Starostina took altered cabinet portraits and put them into multidimensional structures, thus adding another level of interpretation for those photographs.

With this dimensionality, Olga conveys the dual nature and complexity of human desires, dreams and memories, resulting in the series “Means to No end”.

Vladyslav’s philosophy that everything should be saved and revived, in part, stems from his primary occupation as a reconstructive facial surgeon is also carried into his art.  In the series “Tretyakovka” he takes vintage reproductions of very old paintings from the Tretyakov Russian State Gallery and overlays them with his own photographs, clip art and even dried fish or cookie to give them another meaning.

Starostina works with hard materials such as metal and her approach to collaboration was to give a “body” to these images. Her holding structures and frames extend and support the images much like a skeleton would for a person.

The result of their collaboration is a vibrant array of work executed in a variety of techniques, all united by the common idea of extending the life of old art pieces and by adding a new layer of interpretation. Just like in any relationship, sometimes collaborators work together and sometimes drift apart and rejoin again each bringing their own new techniques and ideas.

Extending  life.  Extending  art. Means to NO end!

Krasnoshchok has exhibited throughout Asia, Europe and North America. His work is found in many public collections including the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts, Kiyosato, Japan, The Joaquim Paiva Collection / Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Museum of Organic Culture, Moscow, Russia, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, and the State Art Gallery / The Museum of Photography, Perm, Russia. Vlad resides in Kharkov, Ukraine. Click Here For Full Bio

Starostina has exhibited throughout Canada, Mexico and the United States at the Franz Mayer Museum, Mexico City, Mexico, Indiana University, Kokomo, Indiana, Velvet da Vinci, San Francisco, CA, SNAG, Toronto, Canada, Equinox Gallery, San Antonio, TX, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, TX, and the Glassell School of Art, Houston, TX. Olga resides in Houston, TX. Click Here For Full Bio

Pictured above:
Vladyslav Krasnoshchok and Olga Starostina
DETAIL Trinity (full image below)
2015
old family photograph, ink, aniline ink, aluminum
15 x 19 x 2”