ARTS SQUARE GALLERY

Arts Square Gallery is a two-story space with a total area of about 1,000 meters. The gallery is represented by several exhibition halls, located on the famous Arts Square next to the Russian Museum, Mikhailovsky Theater, and the Academic Philharmonic. The location of the gallery also predetermines the choice of the Arts Square name. The gallery is a multifunctional venue for exhibitions and auctions, as well as a creative laboratory, and a venue for concerts and film screenings. Arts Square Gallery carries out its activities in three formats which are Museum – Collection – Contemporary Art. The gallery hosts museum exhibitions, providing them with scientific support. Arts Square Gallery also works with collectors and presents its own collection. However, the gallery considers the support of contemporary artists and the development of contemporary art to be it’s main activity. Arts Square Gallery presents the historical image of Russian art in three eras of Russia: imperial, Soviet, and modern. Besides, the gallery presents the best world’s works of art, promoting the development of international cultural cooperation. In 1909-1910 the gallery premises were the apartment of Anna Pavlova, a soloist ballerina of the Imperial Ballet Company. Now the gallery has a Mirror Room which is a permanent installation dedicated to the memory of the great ballerina. It’s a unique art object and an interactive museum.

The theme set by Anna Pavlova’s room is continued by exhibitions of contemporary authors: there is an exhibition of works created by the famous ballet photographer Daryana Volkova as well as a project connecting ballet and ecology, in which the stars of the Moscow and St. Petersburg ballet supported the separate collection of waste while posing in ballet skirts in front of the landfill. The gallery collaborates with major art festivals, such as the Open Dance International Ballet Festival, the Theater Olympics, as well as the International Cultural Forum, presenting exhibitions that make a part of its program. Among the museum exhibitions is the Madonna in Flowers exhibition which is organized jointly by the Arts Square Gallery and the New Art Studies Foundation, where viewers saw authentic paintings from private collections made by the 17th-century Flemish artists Pieter Paul Rubens, Jan Brueghel the Younger (Velvet) and Jan Pieter Brueghel, Erasmus Quellinus the Younger, Jan Philips van Thielen and Cornelis van Cleve. Other international projects of the gallery feature the personal exhibition of the famous contemporary French artist Lourence Jenkell. Her works are represented by the art objects in the form of huge lollipops and candies made of bronze, plexiglass, aluminum, and marble. They are installed in many cities around the world and were even presented at one of the G20 meetings. The museum also hosted a personal exhibition Anatoliy Brusilovsky, who is the classic of Moscow’s unofficial art. The exhibition is called Collage/ Assemblage. Anatoliy Brusilovsky can be called a true art rebel: he held the first in the USSR and Russia body art session in his Moscow studio, which was documented by the Espresso Italian magazine in December

1969. In 2022, the artist, who now lives in Cologne and Moscow, will turn 90 years old. The studio that he created in his Moscow apartment’s attic in 70s became a place of attraction for Soviet underground artists, writers, poets, foreign journalists, ambassadors of foreign states, and artists. Among the studio visitors were Michelangelo Antonioni, Henrikh Sapgir, Georgy Kostaki, Yuri Nolev-Sobolev, Anatoly Zverev, Vasily Sitnikov, Evgeny Rukhin, Eduard Limonov, Alla Pugacheva, and others. Besides, the gallery has a rich historical collection of Russian paintings of the twentieth century: Evsey Moiseenko, Isaac Brodsky, Georgy Nissky, Yuri Pimenov, Boris Uspensky, etc. Among the authors, there are many classics of Soviet art: Evsey Moiseenko, Isaac Brodsky, Georgy Nissky, Petr Petrovichev, Boris Uspensky, etc. The area of priority for the gallery is the support of young artists. The gallery organizes personal exhibitions and joint projects. Some of the authors are already gaining popularity, for example, Anton Chumak, Alexey Chizhov, Alexey Mikheev. Some of the artists are just starting their careers. Arts Square Gallery has launched a Marathon of Young Artists especially for them.