Tips to Collect Russian Art
What is Russian Contemporary Art ? Why spend money and time on it ? Who are the leading and promising young artists ? Where to buy to get the best and how to get it at the best prices ? While coronavirus has shut most activities down, now is a perfect time to look, read and learn online to discover one’s own taste in art.
How to find diamonds in the rough in a country as huge as Russia ? One of our friends and great Russian collectors Roman Babichev, proud owner of a canonic collection of Russian Modernism, confided to us: “To find diamonds you need to be worthy. It means being sufficiently prepared, educated, having a trained eye, into at least one particular area of art that you have chosen. Then you can count on success. Observe the best collectors - they are all super-specialists. That’s how the “diamonds” can come to you. Of course, sometimes one gets them by accident, others get them thanks to a good consultant.” To delve further with Roman’s advice, let’s add that to collect or buy art : you need to enjoy it. It is, indeed, a very interesting adventure to go for.
Ready to dive in ? Here are some tips and useful links by Ellen Rozhnova. And of course, count on the ArtyGeneration team to help you with our insights and connections.
Russian Contemporary Art watch kit
Online
To gather information about the Russian art scene, artists and art news in English, you can follow :
Russian Art Focus : Russian Art Focus is a free newsletter. It was founded by Inna Bazhenova (The Art Newspaper) and Dmitry Aksenov (the Aksenov Family Foundation) and created by a team of native English-speaking journalists, critics and researchers.
On YouTube, the Channel ArtPatrol Russia by Yura Omelchenko will be also soon subtitled in English.
Great information can be found in English about the SDV Foundation, their collection and collaborations with Artists. Alexandra was one of our guests.
And last but not least, the wonderful Multimedia Art Museum, where great or promising Russian Artists are constantly exhibited and promoted on their website.
Best place to go
Nowadays the leading Contemporary Art Institution promoting Russian Art, based in Moscow, is the Garage Museum. As well as showcasing foreign Artists in Russia, they support Russian contemporary Art by creating Garage Studios, by offering grants and research programs, and by producing the Triennale of Russian artists. These events focus on seven identified "vectors" through which the current art life of the country can be broadly understood. Everybody is also waiting for the new VAC Foundation building to open. This Foundation promotes Russian contemporary artists, especially in their Venice venue.
Garage Museum, Moscow
What to read ?
Not many books are translated into foreign language. Garage Book Shop made us a special list of Books about Modern and Contemporary Russian Art available in English :
Exhibit Russia: The New International Decade 1986–1996, Kate Fowle, edited by Garage Museum in 2016. Shop here.
The Revolution is Dead - Long Live the Revolution: From Malevich to Judd, From Deineka to Bartana, Michael Baumgartner, 2018. Shop here.
Russian Urban Art: History and Conflicts, Igor Pronosov, 2018. Shop here.
Russian Avant-Garde: Pioneers and Direct Descendants, Silvana Editoriale, 2019. Shop here.
Soviet Women and Their Art: The Spirit of Equality, Lindsay Ivan, 2019. Shop here.
The Advent of Abstraction: Russia, 1914-1923, 5 Continents Editions Srl, 2019. Shop here.
Socialist Realisms: Great Soviet Painting 1920-1970, Skira, 2020. Shop here.
Frozen Dreams: Contemporary Art from Russia, TransGlobePublishing. Shop here.
To complete this list you can check Ekaterina Cultural Foundation web site and its book shop . All the books are published in English as well.
Let’s get scrolling…
Here is also a list of must follow Instagram accounts to get fresh news on Russian art:
Through all these links, you will get a taste of what Russian contemporary art is all about : soul, emotions, humor and protest, in the country and beyond.
Who are the leading Artists and promising young Artists?
For a quick answer to this question, you can have a look at the existing ratings of Russian artists :
InArt, whose algorithm is based on exhibitions and sales of Russian artists in the country and details two categories – 100 Recognized artists and 100 Young artists. Her founder, Ksenia, was one of our first guest.
49art.ru – a yearly list of 49 artists, chosen by curators of museums, gallerists and experts.
However, because the market is still being structured, we do not consider these ratings as the most useful of resources. Knowing who is who and whose work is worth what is a difficult and time consuming work. We suggest to begin with major events, such as the Triennale of Russian Artists, Moscow Biennale and Cosmoscow. (Author’s note: September, during Cosmoscow, is also the best time to visit Russia).
Where to buy - and get the best prices
Online
During the pandemic period, “The ball and Cross” on Facebook has been the best place to find graphics and oil on canvas paintings. Only group members can add you, so do ask.
Another regular platform to follow is Artzip. Primarily created for new buyers, the prices start at 80 € and more expensive pieces can be negotiated. ARTZIP is an online gallery where several thousand works of art of contemporary Russian artists are presented through a selection of different media, from Video Art to limited editions of prints. As Olga Popova, founder of the gallery, explains “When you start buying it is always an emotional purchase, and I consider it necessary to buy what you like. But the main rule is to choose works from high-quality art, which takes different forms, genres, on different topics, in different price ranges from selected art by experts, leading galleries, museums or auction houses.”
In Real Life
Now that travelling may be possible again, here is a list of galleries with the most interesting Contemporary Artists to look at.
Oldies but goodies :
Marina Gisich Gallery - has also an online viewing room
Galerie Iragui
Young but influencing galleries:
Fragment Gallery - has also an online viewing room
сцена/szena located in one of the best Moscow spot for an arty date, Richter
Keep in ming that there is no real system in art pricing in Russia on contemporary art. It depends on the artist and gallery presenting the artists. It can be better to have a professional consultation or of course buying at the price which is right for you. Feel free to bargain if you feel like it. For example for an oil on canvas 1m х 1m, prices can vary from 100 K€ to 3 M€ depending on the artist.
The pandemic period also brought new possibilities to buy art at galleries. As Sergey Popov, founder of pop/off/art gallery, said : “We tried to make as many offers as attractive as possible during the crisis: I don’t remember there being such discounts in the past ten years. We are not presenting them as a new pricing model, of course, because that would put an end to our work of the previous years. But as one-time actions, these are socially significant for us, dealers, and for the artists. This information is not distributed publicly, only directly to customers”. The Moscow Contemporary Auction House Vladey did another extra-ordinary initiative – 10 auctions each Saturday with the start of 100 Euro for all pieces. While prices can go higher than 8 000 euros, you can easily place a bid and get lucky!
How to get your art home, away from Russia ?
Alexander Pervak, from AGS moving company, shared his expertise with us:
Export can be both permanent and temporary - for exhibition with subsequent return. In both of these cases, it is necessary as per our legislation to get export permitting. For modern art objects it is enough to issue an expert conclusion, confirming that they are not cultural value. It usually takes 2-3 days to get it. For items over 50 years old, it is necessary to obtain an export permit from the Ministry of Culture and to pay State taxes (5% of their market price). This procedure is rather long and complicated - about one month.
Contact him for more info or ask the gallery to help you with the paperwork.
Why Russian Art?
Historically Russian Artists were always outside the global art scene, except for Russian Avant-Garde members, who became well-known partly because they were able to immigrate after the Revolution. It is therefore fascinating to discover what Contemporary Art in Russia is about.
Russian schools of painting are very strong technically wise and most artists followed very thorough education, which in turn creates a greater quality of works. Aidan Salakhova, a well known Azerbaidjan-Russian Artists once said: “You need to know the essential rules of art making well and have profound knowledge of it to know how to break them, and create new art.”
Affordability, in comparison with the prices on the global art market.
To have a purpose to discover contemporary Russia inside out and take part in the development of an emerging market.
We also asked Nikolay Palazchenko, representative of Art Basel in Russia, to share his opinion on why Russian contemporary art is interesting to buy:
“We have many talented people and talented artists. However this does not mean that all the works of one artist are equally good. This does not mean that he will turn out to be successful in the end, but it is quite possible in Russia to get some wonderful artworks from some very talented person for an affordable price.”
In conclusion– buying Russian Art is not about investing money, but investing in your emotions and sublimate them by creating a story, as you can see above with Roman Babitchev collection.
To start step by step, read our article about Affordable art, and to get help and advices, contact the author of the article, Ellen Rozhnova, on Facebook or Insta.
