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JERSEY CITY MUSEUM OF RUSSIAN ART (MORA) IS WORTH CROSSING THE HUDSON
Lia Petridis Maiello.Journalist and editor
Huffington Post
Sept 20 2011
Do you know this feeling, when you unexpectedly stumble upon a hidden
treasure of physical or non-physical nature and it fundamentally
changes, but completes, your day? In this instance this author took
an inquisitive peek into the windows of the building that is 80
Grand Street, across from Paulus Hook Park in Downtown Jersey City,
and decided to find out what the auspiciously illuminated colors mean.
Entering the elegantly renovated rooms of the Museum of Russian Art
(MORA), the secret is revealed quickly. The pieces hanging on the
walls show a refined sense for classical painting technique, extensive
schooling, an eye for historical references, and a strong feel for
European art-symbolism. The Museum of Russian Art (MORA) is exhibiting
two contemporary Russian/Eastern European artists right now that are
taking the viewer on a stunning travel to strangely familiar places...
Voskanjan Andrey Valerevich, in artistic circles better known as
Gasoyan, was born in Yerevan, Armenia, in 1981. A former republic
of the Soviet Union, Armenia is located at the crossroads of Western
Asia and Eastern Europe. Gasoyan graduated from the Yerevan State Art
Academy in 2004 and then continued studying with the prestigious
Moscow State Art V.I. Surikov College, focusing on monumental
painting. Although Gasoyan is constantly producing artwork, he is
also passing on his skills and knowledge by teaching at the Academic
School of Design in Moscow. In 2008 he was named the laureate of the
Art-Week Moscow competition and his works are appreciated by private
collectors and galleries all over Europe and Russia.
Gasoyan noticeably received his main art schooling after the collapse
of the Soviet empire. His education made him a young Russian painter
with a strong appreciation for the great European masters of the
earlier 20th century, away from the doctrine of Socialist Realism that
influenced, voluntarily and involuntarily, generations of Russian
painters. Keeping in mind that the oppression of artistic freedom
in the Soviet Union generated an entire arts-movement. The Soviet
Nonconformist Art with formidable representatives such as Serov,
or avant-garde expressionist Anatoly Zverev.
And to create a haven for these nonconformist artists, who often fled
the Soviet Union or found collectors outside their home country,
in the U.S., the Museum of Russian Art in Jersey City opened its
doors on September 15, 1980 and has been a place of art, politics
and intellectual exchange for thirty one years.
The young, Russian artist Gasoyan borrows. The ability to express
human emotions with basic brush strokes from symbolist painter Paul
Gauguin, the sometimes frantic approach of Vincent van Gogh, Edvard
Munch's undeniable predilection for themes such as love, fear, death
and anxiety, Wassily Kandinsky's precision and strong intuition for
colors. What turns these elements combined into "a Gasoyan" is the
artist's sense for space, surprising perspectives, his unconventional
use of color, and the brave ease with which he introduces loneliness
to his artwork.
The current exhibition at the Museum of Russian art is so
inspirational, because director Margo Grant understands to bring
together two different, but complementary schools of thought.
Udita Leberg-Shapiro was born in the western Ukraine city of Uzghorod
in 1955 and went through early furtherance of her obvious artistic
talent by her parents, and the Soviet government. The Soviet Ministry
of Foreign Cultural Affairs in Moscow featured her prowess in 1965
with a solo exhibition and named her a child prodigy during a press
conference. She went to art schools in Moscow, Budapest, New York
and Jerusalem, immigrated to the USA in 1974, lives now in Fairlawn,
New Jersey and is a devoted art and music teacher.
Leberg's pieces are of profound elegance, a deep, very timeless
connection to the "old world" and an extraordinary skill to express
life and liveliness in somber colors. Talking to her at the opening,
she seems almost apologetic about the fact that she would have loved
to use more and brighter colors, earlier in her artistic career, but
the political circumstances in her home country taught her to stay
within artistic boundaries. "I would have loved to paint like Joan
Miró, the way he uses colors, but we had very strict teachers." Leberg
portrays the story of an outstandingly gifted young woman that learned
early to follow the rules, set by an oppressive regime, and still,
"I did my own paintings on the side, but I couldn't show them at
school," she smiles astutely.
The exhibition is open every day from 2 p.m. - 6 p.m. until September
25.
For more information: www.moramuseum.org
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lia-petridis/jersey-city-museum-russian-art_b_971057.html
Lia Petridis Maiello.Journalist and editor
Huffington Post
Sept 20 2011
Do you know this feeling, when you unexpectedly stumble upon a hidden
treasure of physical or non-physical nature and it fundamentally
changes, but completes, your day? In this instance this author took
an inquisitive peek into the windows of the building that is 80
Grand Street, across from Paulus Hook Park in Downtown Jersey City,
and decided to find out what the auspiciously illuminated colors mean.
Entering the elegantly renovated rooms of the Museum of Russian Art
(MORA), the secret is revealed quickly. The pieces hanging on the
walls show a refined sense for classical painting technique, extensive
schooling, an eye for historical references, and a strong feel for
European art-symbolism. The Museum of Russian Art (MORA) is exhibiting
two contemporary Russian/Eastern European artists right now that are
taking the viewer on a stunning travel to strangely familiar places...
Voskanjan Andrey Valerevich, in artistic circles better known as
Gasoyan, was born in Yerevan, Armenia, in 1981. A former republic
of the Soviet Union, Armenia is located at the crossroads of Western
Asia and Eastern Europe. Gasoyan graduated from the Yerevan State Art
Academy in 2004 and then continued studying with the prestigious
Moscow State Art V.I. Surikov College, focusing on monumental
painting. Although Gasoyan is constantly producing artwork, he is
also passing on his skills and knowledge by teaching at the Academic
School of Design in Moscow. In 2008 he was named the laureate of the
Art-Week Moscow competition and his works are appreciated by private
collectors and galleries all over Europe and Russia.
Gasoyan noticeably received his main art schooling after the collapse
of the Soviet empire. His education made him a young Russian painter
with a strong appreciation for the great European masters of the
earlier 20th century, away from the doctrine of Socialist Realism that
influenced, voluntarily and involuntarily, generations of Russian
painters. Keeping in mind that the oppression of artistic freedom
in the Soviet Union generated an entire arts-movement. The Soviet
Nonconformist Art with formidable representatives such as Serov,
or avant-garde expressionist Anatoly Zverev.
And to create a haven for these nonconformist artists, who often fled
the Soviet Union or found collectors outside their home country,
in the U.S., the Museum of Russian Art in Jersey City opened its
doors on September 15, 1980 and has been a place of art, politics
and intellectual exchange for thirty one years.
The young, Russian artist Gasoyan borrows. The ability to express
human emotions with basic brush strokes from symbolist painter Paul
Gauguin, the sometimes frantic approach of Vincent van Gogh, Edvard
Munch's undeniable predilection for themes such as love, fear, death
and anxiety, Wassily Kandinsky's precision and strong intuition for
colors. What turns these elements combined into "a Gasoyan" is the
artist's sense for space, surprising perspectives, his unconventional
use of color, and the brave ease with which he introduces loneliness
to his artwork.
The current exhibition at the Museum of Russian art is so
inspirational, because director Margo Grant understands to bring
together two different, but complementary schools of thought.
Udita Leberg-Shapiro was born in the western Ukraine city of Uzghorod
in 1955 and went through early furtherance of her obvious artistic
talent by her parents, and the Soviet government. The Soviet Ministry
of Foreign Cultural Affairs in Moscow featured her prowess in 1965
with a solo exhibition and named her a child prodigy during a press
conference. She went to art schools in Moscow, Budapest, New York
and Jerusalem, immigrated to the USA in 1974, lives now in Fairlawn,
New Jersey and is a devoted art and music teacher.
Leberg's pieces are of profound elegance, a deep, very timeless
connection to the "old world" and an extraordinary skill to express
life and liveliness in somber colors. Talking to her at the opening,
she seems almost apologetic about the fact that she would have loved
to use more and brighter colors, earlier in her artistic career, but
the political circumstances in her home country taught her to stay
within artistic boundaries. "I would have loved to paint like Joan
Miró, the way he uses colors, but we had very strict teachers." Leberg
portrays the story of an outstandingly gifted young woman that learned
early to follow the rules, set by an oppressive regime, and still,
"I did my own paintings on the side, but I couldn't show them at
school," she smiles astutely.
The exhibition is open every day from 2 p.m. - 6 p.m. until September
25.
For more information: www.moramuseum.org
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lia-petridis/jersey-city-museum-russian-art_b_971057.html