The Naked Room at viennacontemporary for the third year in a row—this time presenting a group stand featuring works by Lucy Ivanova, Kinder Album, and Kseniya Bilyk.
The tenth-anniversary edition of Austria’s leading international art fair will take place under the artistic direction of Francesca Gavin from 12 to 15 September 2024 in Halle D of Messe Wien. With an exhibitor list comprising 98 galleries and 6 institutional stands from a total of 24 countries, the upcoming edition of viennacontemporary is the largest in years.
Lucy Ivanova's paintings do not refer to a single theme or method. It is a random combination of what she has seen, felt, obtained and experienced. Lucy herself defines her subject of interest in a bold way—it is a reality and its material features and boundaries. The artist outlines the limits of her everyday reality through images of simple objects, situations, obscured episodes of city life, the interior of her apartment and studio. These trivial things are dissolved in her semi-figurative canvases to become attractively enigmatic.
For the first time, works, which were notable for its child-friendly stylization, appeared under the pseudonym Kinder Album on Facebook in 2012. In Kinder Albums’s ceramic works, as well as in her practice in general, she symbolically and literally exposes uncomfortable topics that have been pushed out of public discussion. Kinder Album explores the boundaries of intimacy, sexuality, and personal fantasies. Equally boldly, she mocks gender stereotypes, objectified sexuality, and domestic violence—issues that are devalued by social silence. The conflict between the provocative topics and the “childish language” of their artistic embodiment draws the viewer’s gaze back to where our intellectual chastity attempts to divert it.
Kseniya Bilyk often works in textiles, ceramics, graphics, installation, video, and other media. Over the past few years, Kseniya has explored the mechanisms of constructing collective memory and visual propaganda. Her images, instantly recognisable, but at the same time devoid of context, act as a trigger that sets off the process of manifesting the visual unconscious. In addition, the aesthetic seduction of the works themselves immerses a viewer in a world of fantasy, sensuality, and pleasure.
Fair opening hours:
Preview—Thursday, 12 September | 12:00–21:00 (VIP Pass only)
Vernissage—Thursday, 12 September | 16:00–21:00 (VIP Pass or Vernissage Pass)
Public Days—Friday, 13 September to Sunday, 15 September | 11:00–19:00 (Sunday: 11:00–18:00)
Booth C18
Messe Wien, Halle D, Trabrennstraße 7, 1020 Vienna
The stand is supported by a local American friend of the gallery.
