veniamin kazachenko (1982)

Art Olive Jong Talent 2009, KABK den haag

veniamin kazachenko
artist statement

‘in its most significant aspects, contemporary art is ugly and chaotic, a threat to the ordering of society and man’s conventional concept of himself '

leon golub

black or blackness has always been a relevant element in veniamin kazachenko’s work. we do not refer here to the chromatic black but rather to the darkness that mystifies our existence, the void that contains everything we know, the substance from which all things came to be. it is at times, even the theme of his works as well as the synonym for the brewing depths of the unconscious.
such lightlessness makes us wonder, in a rhetoric way, about ourselves. it activates our minds and we cannot help but question the dark mass we are confronted with, which contrasts with kazachenko’s presence of mind, since it seems that it is in such vast emptiness that the artist feels safe. the artist moves and breathes in that ominous murk where the spark of creativity is embedded, a place where the idea has not yet been born, that pitch-dark womb from which comes the impulse of creation that makes any artwork emerge.
kazachenko has been recently occupied with investigating the process of being and becoming. he frequently uses themes that have also concerned masters such as durer, van gogh, beuys, bergman, malevich and kiefer.
he creates symbiotic installations which involve works of one of these artists or perhaps a theme that such artists would have used in their work. he proceeds then to distort the proportions and invite the viewer to be a participant in the process.




description of recent work
raison d’etre

in this work, a painting by van gogh, ‘the sower’, has been painted in oil on a 285x465 cm canvas. as the sun sets, a blanket of darkness is being pulled over the surface of the earth, covering all things that remind us of who we are. man it is, thus, left forsaken in his unconscious. in a state of hysteria and fearing of the futility of his existence, he goes out into the fading fields, desperately sowing his last seeds. an eclipse overshadows the sun, a black hole is born, swallowing it all but for a thin rim of light, an event horizon, only to remind us of what once was there.
the physical space around the canvas is also inhabited by a painting of black sunflowers perching on its easel. next to it rests a linen suit covered in paint, the leftovers of the exhausting manic work, which the artist had undertaken digging in the “darkness”.


cv

personal details
veniamin kazachenko
harstenhoekplein 8a
2587 sn,the hague
the netherlands
tel. +31649237489
e-mail. tripleb82@hotmail.com

education
bachelor degree fine arts 2009
royal academy of art

exhibitions
best of graduates 2009
ron mandos galerie
amsterdam, holland

kabk eind examen expositie 2009
royal academy of art
the hague, holland

2009, oh my god...group exhbition
rac hallen
the hague, holland

2008 tears of joy, group exhibition
ateliers keizersgracht 132
amsterdam, holland

2008, start of your ending, group exhibition
ateliers keizersgracht 132
amsterdam, holland

2007, uitgelicht, selected short films viewing
film huis den haag
the hague, holland

2007, offene ateliers am haverkamp, group exhibition
haverkamp
munster, germany

2006, johannes 52, group exhibition
the hague, holland

bibliography

www.metropolism.com
graduation fever 2009: kabk den haag