Audio tour Nikolai Nasedkin. Petroleum. Personal story

September 18 – November 10, 2019

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Hello, I’m the artist Nikolai Nasedkin.

Thank you for coming to see my exhibition.

Curator Kirill Svetlyakov says that this project attempts to picture the space of today’s Russia and understand what petroleum means in Russian history. What is it, boon or bane? All Russians know that their lives somehow depend on petroleum prices, but few can say precisely in what way. That is why in the public mind petroleum has overgrown with myths, and I try to explore these myths in my works.

In a way, petroleum has become part of my personal story: for over a decade I have been using petroleum suspension to make my paintings.

The main question of this project is whether it is possible to make out a personal story in today’s global history.

The exhibition consists of:

- a series of large-scale “petroleum” panels and columns,

- large object “The Russian Wall. Light Shower”,

- a film in the diary genre about a trip to my native village,

- “My Folks” cycle,

- portraits of Varlam Shalamov

- and early works from the Tretyakov Gallery collection dealing with my birthplace.

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Text: Nikolai Nasedkin

Voiceover: Jonathan Salway