Reflection of our Generation / Artistic Block

Reflection of our Generation / Artistic Block

The installation consists of two parts. The first part is an oil painting depicting the woman wearing a veil and a headscarf. The woman is shown holding a Kalashnikov gun, with the game of chess on the background. The second part is a pile of crumpled papers positioned in front of the painting. Crumpled papers are the working drafts of Annya’s previous collections.

The installation reflects the artist’s view on the current state of the world in general and the contemporary art world in particular. Two parts of the work link and bring together two perceptions: of a generation of confused, brainwashed people, willing to sacrifice their lives for the skewed ideas and invented new principles, and the confused, and somewhat wrong perception of the art in the current art market. The installation carries the thought that nowadays any junk can be considered art, just like any junk idea can be turned into ideology. Everything, which was considered beautiful and moral by the previous generations, is not viewed as beautiful and moral anymore, and vice versa. The work also aims to raise a question of a perception of the contemporary art by the general public: are we being brainwashed into believing in something that might not be true? Is some of the contemporary art an art, or, in most cases, just a pile of rubbish?

The chess board depicted in the main painting is the representation of the game which is frequently played by the art world: art these days is as much about strategy as about the art itself. Similarly, the chess is the game that is generally played in the minds of our generation.

Annya’s view coincides with the recent comments by contemporary art curators and experts, who complained that most of the work these days were overrated and were the result of fame and little criticism. In 2012 Dave Hickey, one of America’s leading art critics, condemned the contemporary art world for being run by too much money and celebrity associations. Will Gompertz, the BBC’s arts editor, sympathised with Hickey’s frustration, saying that the current art world was prohibiting ideas and debate on art, forcing artists to work inside the establishment and not challenge the preconceptions. The main opponents of the contemporary art, who think that the art has taken a wrong turn, now come from inside its own world.

The critical nature of Annya’s installation is not only aimed at the art market, but is also self-depreciating. The artist questions her own work, thus using her previous work drafts to create a pile of rubbish, uncertain in her feelings about her art: is it good enough (for the current art market)? It shows the significant challenge that the artists face in objectively viewing their own work, and expresses the artist’s general frustration with the contemporary art world and the current state of society.