Art After Hours: First Wednesdays

Celebrate the exhibition In the Search of an Absolute: Art of Valery Yurlov, with a rare appearance by the Moscow-based artist during Art After Hours.

The evening begins with a 5:30 tour of In the Search of an Absolute with Dr. Julia Tulovsky, Associate Curator of Russian and Soviet Nonconformist Art. At 6:15 p.m., with an introduction by Dr. Jane Sharp, Associate Professor and Research Curator of Russian and Soviet Nonconformist Art, the 15-minute short film “Valery Yurlov: Sketch for a Portrait” provides insight into the artist’s creative ideas and principles,  featuring interviews with art historian and author Dmitry Sarabianov, as well as with the artist himself. A reception with Yurlov follows from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Lower Dodge Gallery. A performance of contemporary Russian music takes place in the lobby from 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. The Museum Store features 20% off all purchases and complimentary art posters until 8:30 p.m.

Valery Yurlov stands out as one of the earliest proponents of analytical abstraction within Soviet nonconformist art and was among those brave artists who, as early as the 1950s, defied the harsh restrictions placed on artists by the Communist government. The exhibition spotlights 50 pioneering works, selected from more than 200 by the artist in the Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection at the Zimmerli, from the late 1950s and 1960s, with a few later pieces from the collection of the artist. In the Search of an Absolute is the latest in a series of one-person shows devoted to Soviet nonconformist artists at the Zimmerli. The exhibition is on view through June 3, 2012.

“Valery Yurlov continues the intellectual traditions of the Russian avant-garde of the 1920s,” notes Dr. Tulovsky. The legacy of his teachers manifested itself in a life-long search for an absolute, or a form, constructed in accordance with universal principles. Although Yurlov incorporated the latest developments and theories in contemporary art – such as neo-constructivism, structuralism, impermanence, and even performance art – he continued to work outside established circles of artists. Yurlov also stayed beyond the confines of politics, never yielding to the temptation of using ideology in his art. He made his living as a freelance illustrator during school and for much of his adult life, allowing him to live outside of Moscow and freely develop his own artistic language.