Andrei Molodkin

Former Russian soldier and conceptual artist, Andrei Molodkin critically addresses contemporary cultural and geopolitical issues through his work. Criticism of the symbolic order is the main theme of Molodkin's work as he uses his art to rework popular ideas of culture. He is a master draftsman and sculptor working with two untraditional and non-artistic materials; the ballpoint pen and crude oil.

Andrei began his ballpoint pen drawings while he served in the Soviet army, where soldiers were issued two pens a month to write letters. In a labor-intensive process and with great precision, the artist draws precisely with a simple ballpoint pen on his gigantic canvas drawings. Many times the pens are symbols of life itself, in the sense that the used-up pen (the dead) is immediately replaced by a new generation. Each of them is destined to work obsessively at any price, until the last drop of ink-blood has been used, thus creating the illusion of a continuous, living process.

By transforming oil from an organic resource into an aesthetic form, the artist raises important questions regarding the role of oil within our contemporary Western culture. He explores the clash between culture, religion, economy and politics when he uses recognizable religious images or cultural iconography as his subject matter. Molodkin believes that the oil industry is the flesh and blood of Western economy and he comments on how a national resource can become a national identity.

His exhibition "Direct From The Pipe" was presented at ANNE+ Art Projects, Ivry sur Seine,France [http://www.anneplus.com/ExhibitionsPastFr.html] "Sweet Crude American Dream" was presented at Daneyal Mahmood Gallery, NY. [http://www.daneyalmahmood.com/andreimolodkin.html?
] , and "Guts à la Russe" at Orel Art Gallery, Paris, in April-May 2008 [http://www.orelart.com/artiste-projet.php?lang=en&id_art=25&id_proj=74&pg=1]

Andrei Molodkin's work received international critical acclaim and was reviewed favorably by numerous publications including The New York Times, Art Forum, Village Voice, The Guardian and BBC News. The artist currently lives and works between Paris and Moscow. His works are held in private collections in The State Russian Museum, Saint-Petersburg, the S. Freud Museum, Saint-Petersburg and in the collection of Schusev State Museum of Architecture, Moscow.

olo exhibitions

2008
*Guts à la Russe, Orel Art Gallery, Paris [http://www.orelart.com/index.php?lang=en]

2007
*Direct From The Pipe, ANNE+ Art Projects, Ivry sur Seine,France [http://www.anneplus.com/ExhibitionsPastFr.html]

*G8, Kashya Hildebrand Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland
*Sweet Crude American Dream, Daneyal Mahmood Gallery, New York

2006
*Cold War II, Orel Art Gallery, Paris
*Empire at War, Daneyal Mahmood Gallery, New York
*Sweet Crude Eternity, Kashya Hildebrand Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland

2005
*Sweet crude Eternity, Kashya Hildebrand Gallery, New York

2004
*Notre Patrimoine, European Parliament, Brussels
*Trash resources, Kashya Hildebrand Gallery, New York

2003
*Love Copyright, Orel Art Presenta Gallery, Paris
*Love Copyright, Kashya Hildebrand Gallery, New York

2002
*Polius, Chapelle Saint-Louis de la Salpêtrière, Orel Art Presenta Gallery, Paris
*Carré Noir Gallery, Paris

2001
*Novo Novosibirsk, The Marble Palace, Russian State Museum, St. Petersburg
*Blue Dream, Freud’s Dream Museum, St. Petersburg

1999
*Novo Novosibirsk, Chapelle Saint-Louis de la Salpêtrière, Paris

Group exhibitions

2007
*East/West, Orel Art Gallery, Paris [http://www.orelart.com/artiste-projet.php?lang=en&id_art=44&id_proj=70&pg=1]
*Moscow World Fine Art Fair, Orel Art Gallery, Moscow
*Art Moscow, Orel Art Gallery, Moscow
*Paper Trails- New Adventures in Drawing, VI Gallery, Denmark.
*DIFC Gulf Art Fair, Kashya Hildebrand Gallery, Dubai
*Art Paris Abu Dhabi, Orel Art Gallery, Abu Dhabi, EAU
*Art Paris, Orel Art Gallery, Paris
*Bushels, Bundles and Barrels, Superfund, New York

2006
*Petrodollar, Pierogi and Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, Miami
*The Kiss, Daneyal Mahmood Gallery, Scope, Miami
*Modus R, Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami
*Madame Butterfly, Priska Pasquer Gallery, Paris Photo, Paris
*God is Great, Guelman Gallery, Art Moscow, Moscow
*Life After Death, Orel Art Gallery, Art Moscow, Moscow
*Art Attack! (Russian contemporary art), Orel Art Gallery, Paris

2005
*Black Heart, Orel Art Gallery, Paris
*Liquid Madonna, Orel Art Gallery, FIAC, Paris
*Scope, Orel Art Gallery, London
*Art Moscow, Orel Art Gallery, Moscow

2004
*Trash Ressources, Kashya Hildebrand Gallery, New York
*Our Patrimony, European Parliament, Brussels
*Playing For Oil, Flash Art Milan, Orel Art Gallery, Milan
*Art Brussels, Orel Art Gallery, Brussels
*Art Moscow, Orel Art Gallery, Moscow

2003
*Love Copyright, Art Moscow, Orel Art Gallery, Moscow
*Underground City, Labin, Croatia
*New Beginning of Contemporary Art of Moscow, Düsseldorf, Germany

2002
*Polus, Photobiennale 2002, House of the Photography, Moscow
*Body as Sculpture, Carré Noir Gallery, Paris Photo, Paris
*Biesterfeld Art Management, St. Moritz, Switzerland

2001

*Novonovosibirsk, Russian National Museum, Saint Petersburg
*New Academy, Saint Petersburg
*Private Art Gallery, Saint Petersburg
*"Freud's Dream" Museum, Saint Petersburg
*Novonovosibirsk, Schusev National Museum of Architecture, Moscow
*Paris Photo Fair 2001, Carrousel of the Louvre, Carré Noir Gallery, Paris
*Museum of the Photography House, Moscow

2000
*Photobiennale 2000, House of the Photography, Moscow
*Novonovosibirsk, Instrumenta, Novy Manege, Douma, Moscow
*Paris Photo Fair 2000, Louvre Carrousel, Carré Noir Gallery, Paris

1999
*Art Manege 99, Yakut Gallery, Moscow

Collections

*Collection of The State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg
*Collection of S. Freud Museum, Saint Petersburg
*Collection of Schusev State Museum of Architecture, Moscow
*And private collectors in Europe and The United States

Recent Press

*Bon, September 2007 ;
*National Geographic, August 2007 ;
*Art Actuel, March-April 2007, France ;
*CMagazine, Oct. 2006 (Victor Tupitsyn);
*MonsterChildren, Oct. 2006 (Campbell Milligan);
*Sculpture Magazine, Oct. 2006 ;
*Guardian Unlimited, Feb.23, 2006 (Paul Arendt);
*The Ticket, BBC World Service, Feb.18, 2006 (Mark Coles);
*BBC News, Feb.17, 2006;
*Artmargins, 2006 (Yulia Tikhonova);
*Spoon, Jan.-Feb. 2006 (Anna Sansom);
*The Village Voice, Vol.52, Dec.28, 2005 - Jan.3, 2006 (Baker);
*The Village Voice, « Graphic Marvels », 30 November 2006;
*The Village Voice, « Art Imitates Death », 22-28 November 2006;
*The New-York Times, “Art Listing”, 5 September 2003;

Media events

*Tracks, “Art Provo Russe”, Arte Television, 21 September 2006 ;
*Mark Coles, “The Ticket”, BBC World Service, 18 February 2006 ;
*Frédéric Taddei, “Paris Dernière”, Paris Première, 22 April 2005 ;

Litterature

*Andrei Molodkin: "Cold War II", eds. Victor Tupitsyn and Margarita Tupitsyn, Kashya Hildebrand Gallery, Zurich, 2007.

External References

[http://www.orelart.com/artiste-biographie.php?lang=fr&id_art=25 Galerie Orel Art]