There’s no doubt Konstantin Bessmertny is one of the foremost artists in Macau, as well as one of the most distinguished artists working in Asia today. Born in the former Soviet Union in 1964, he graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts, Vladivostok, specialising in classical painting, and moved to Macau in 1993, where he has been living and creating works ever since. For years, his works have been exhibited in museums from east to west; receiving a number of awards, with many are held in collections in museums, government departments and private collections.
This November, after over six months preparation, the artist is presenting his biggest exhibition so far, Ad Lib – Recent Works of Konstantin Bessmertny, at Macau Art Museum, with 34 pieces of his recent works ranging from paintings and sculptures to installations and mixed media.
The idea for the name “Ad Libitum” came to Bessmertny while he was looking at some of his wife’s music scores, where a composer had suggested the musicians to play the piece “as you please”.
Instead of giving the exhibition a definite theme therefore, the artist just shares his personal musings and witty responses to the interesting and even bizarre phenomena around us in society, leaving the questions and further contemplation of the issues he raises to the audience, just like Ad Libitum.
For viewers, part of the challenge and the pleasure of enjoying Konstantin’s art pieces resides in identifying and disentangling the motifs and sources of inspiration.
Incorporating humour, irony, parody and satire, Bessmertny’s works always hide a treasure trove of philosophic meditations, provocative perspectives, and a wry smile, with influences as wide ranging as philosophy, literature, music, history, politics, theology, cinema, music, newspapers, and even cartoons.
Bessmertny quite enjoys challenging preconceived notions.
In his work, the tough leader of the “empire on which the sun never sets”, Queen Victoria is depicted as a woman with a young girl inside who is obsessed with beauty, cosmetics, manicures, eyelashes, and sequined Japanese-girl style cheap jewelry.
Grigori Rasputin, a character who was once synonymous with power, debauchery and lust, is made pink in Bessmertny’s portrait, “based on the song Rasputin by the disco band Bonny M. in the 70’s,” explains the artist, “and he has the eyes of crystal Swarovski. When you walk near, he will blink at you. ”
“The whole concept of this series is to make people think. Not just to simply say this guy is good, the other is bad,” adds the artist, “on one side we have an understanding of the history, and on another side an understanding of the personality. You don’t have the true idea of the facts of the history and so on.”
In one of the installations, Bessmertny puts Karl Marx’s statement “Commodity fetishism” in big letters on a black Birkin bag.
“Obsession with commodities is just a cheap way to build an acceptance of something with no value. It is just a piece of leather, but was branded with more value than itself. I contradict it, put completely distorting messages on it. It immediately changes the value itself,” the artist explains, “I’m just laughing at commodity obsessed people.”
The exhibition will not only be presented indoors. An antique car, used as a mobile exhibition space, will go to different squares
and other recreational spaces around town. The general public can engage with this experimental mobile mini-gallery up close
and enjoy the dynamism and playfulness of contemporary art in their everyday setting.
The catalogue of the show is also interesting. It will have editorials, interviews, a cover, and fake advertising pages. “It’s a parody on magazines,” says the artist, “it was a lot more work, but fun.”
On some art pieces, audiences may also find some mocking of politically correct messages. “To question is part of the artists’ job,” the artist says, “I feel we’re living in a kind of weird world, and I feel a duty to point things out. Though I try to do it with limitations, I feel like I have a duty to do so. I live in my world.
I feel pleasure even if only one or two people understand my works. If nobody understands, it’s ok, I enjoyed doing it.”
Bessmertny has been focused on working only on this exhibition for the past half a year, and “didn’t sell anything” during the period. How to balance the financial side of his work is just one of the challenges that he’s facing, apart from others.
“When you do something that is always recognized as what you do, it’s a branded product. In my work, I always want to do something else. My goal is always the next challenge,” he says proudly, “I’m not satisfied with it all. But it is like, only when you step on to this stand, you will want to reach higher, and you will climb.”
Ad Libitum – Recent Works of Konstantin Bessmertny will run until May 20, 2017 in the Gallery of Special Exhibitions, at Macao Museum of Art.
