Hooligan art on display in Moscow
Published 05 July, 2008, 09:21
'Gop art' is loosely translated from Russian as meaning 'art by hooligans'. Until now it's been looked down on as a lesser form of expression or even dismissed as not being art at all. But now, a major exhibition is showcasing their work.
They are sometimes thought to be at the margins of society but their art reveals a different dimension to the way they look.
The Gop art exhibition, being held at Moscow's Zverev Centre of Modern Art has collected the works of Russians living in different cities and working in different genres.
What unites them is their lifestyle in the suburbs of cities like St Petersburg, Moscow, Saratov or Kazan, which has left its own mark on them.
The exhibition raises the problem of disaffected youth culture being crowded out by commercialised and respectable society.
“What we've tried to do with this project is to show contemporary art from people who are less privileged. Here we can see an altered vision of classical art through the eyes of those who are normally disdained by the traditional avant-garde artistic society. We are not interested in the traditional schools of art, though we also have education in that field. We aim to raise the real problems of Russian society,” says exhibition curator Kirill Shamanov.
A new type of creativity can be seen in their works, which can be viewed as rude, dirty and intoxicated – just like the artists themselves are sometimes seen.
discuss it
