In Vladivostok, a famous artist collects a fantastic car for the "New Government"

The famous Russian artist Georgy Ostretsov, together with his team, creates an unusual art object in Vladivostok - a domestic fantastic car. At the end of September, the car will drive through the bridges and viewpoints of the city and stop in the exhibition halls of the ZARYA Center for Contemporary Art, where from October 3 to November 30 a personal exhibition of the artist “AUTOTRANS NP” will be held.

“Vladivostok is an interesting city, so during the discussion of the upcoming exhibition, the idea came up to do a special project here. I began to study the main problems and the specifics of the region, turned to the national idea of a domestic car. The transport theme seemed very relevant to me. Vladivostok is one of the automobile centers of the country. And the roads and bridges built for the APEC Summit can be perceived as a government highway, a kind of “president’s golden road”. This topic inspired me to create such a concept car for the first person of the state, which could move around and at the same time be a work of art. The born image of the car contains elements from futurological experiments of the 60s in the field of mechanical engineering and a fantastic idea about the “New Government”, which I have been developing for more than 15 years, ”said Georgy Ostretsov about the project.

The utopia of art “The New Government” is a demonstration of utopian political power, realized in easy-to-read and vivid images of political, social and aesthetic phenomena. The new government is devoid of human passions and desires, the faces of impartial rulers are hidden under masks that embody a new effective and exclusive mechanism of power with its levers of manipulation of the mass consciousness.

In the mid-2000s, when the NP project was implemented, this witty social criticism was accurate and relevant as never before, but at the same time extremely ironic and inventive. In the plastic embodiment of the project, Ostretsov uses a comic book aesthetic that reformatts the pathos of the totalitarian message into a meaningful and emotional statement.

The Autotrans exhibition in Vladivostok will combine the existing elements of the New Government and the series of works created in Vladivostok, including the fantastic NP car. "AUTOTRANS" is an avant-garde landing utopia, which is designed to begin an alternative auto history of Russia from East to West.

Georgy Ostretsov is one of the most sought after and outstanding artists of modern Russia. He became known almost thirty years ago by participating in the non-conformist exhibitions of the art groups “Kindergarten” (1985-86) and “George & George” (George Ostretsov and George Litichevsky) (1985).

In 1989, the artist left for Paris, where he works in art and fashion projects, collaborates with Luke Besson - makes latex masks for his films, works with Jean-Charles de Castelbajac and Jean-Paul Gaultier.

In Paris, Ostretsov creates the main plastic elements of his future mega-project “New Government” (NP), the concept of which is formulated upon his return to Russia.

C 1998 lives and works in Moscow.

In 2007, his personal exhibition “REPAIR” was held at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art.

In 2009, he represents Russia at the 53rd Venice Biennale.

In 2012, his project “The Criminal Government” was presented at the Saatchi Gallery in London as part of the project “Fun is the Most Outstanding Feature of the Soviet Union: Art from Russia”

The works of George Ostretsov are in the collections of the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Center for Contemporary Art and the Russian Museum.

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The Zarya Center for Contemporary Art is a non-profit institution created to promote the best achievements of modern culture in Russia and the world in Vladivostok, and to support local young artists. The center is intended to become an independent platform for the development of local creative ideas in the process of effective dialogue with leading world professionals in the field of contemporary art, design, architecture, cinema, literature, theater, music and new media.