ILYA VOLYKHINE
It's A Helluva Town

Paintings

Exhibition: 21 November to 22 December 2007

A city is mostly defined by its diversity and street culture; how people differ from each other, how people use silent language and personal space amidst the day-to-day. In Ilya Volykhine's latest solo exhibition, It's a Helluva Town, paintings refer to this drama of city life - sometimes played out in chiaroscuro, sometimes in stark daylight, be the scene from NYC or Sydney, St. Petersburg or Paris. "In the cities where I have lived images and themes sometimes repeat, both changed and unchanged. These paintings are reflections of the influence of that constant stream of images." says Volykhine.

The paintings in his latest exhibition are a visualization of two ideas: city scenes & body language. The works seemingly question the status of perception, of memory and images; Are these things he has seen and painted from memory or is this a foreigner's read on events based on tellings and retellings of different stories heard over time? They seem to show the viewer the ambiguous link between the transformed painted image and reality — with reality being the ever moving target.

Sometimes playful and sometimes dark and brooding, the painted images of prostitutes, drunken men or simple couples on a picnic are striking, both for the distinctive style in which they are rendered and the way in which Volykhine chooses to occupy his blank spaces with sometimes stark figures and their related objects. It's A Helluva Town, is Ilya's sixth solo exhibition at the gallery.

It's A Helluva Town opens to the public on the 21st of November 2007. Opening drinks with the artist will be on Saturday the 24th of November, from 4-6pm and the exhibition will run through to the 22nd of December 2007.

About the Artist:

Ilya Volykhine emigrated to the United States in 1991 (New York City) and came to Australia in late 2000. He has held several solo exhibitions in Australia and his work has been selected for various group exhibitions, including the Archibald Prize, AGNSW (2003) and the Blake Prize for Religious Art (2004). His work is currently touring in the Jacaranda Acquisitve Drawing Prize exhibition at Redlands Regional Gallery in QLD through to the 20th of January.

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ILYA VOLYKHINE
CURRICULUM VITAE

Represented: Schubert Contemporary, QLD
GroundFloor Gallery, NSW

Selected Group Exhibitions

2006 Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award - Finalist, Nationwide, AU
2006 Mosman Art Prize - Finalist, Sydney, AU
2005 Teasers, GroundFloor Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2004 53rd Blake Prize for Religious Art - Finalist, Sydney, AU
2003 Archibald Prize - Finalist, AGNSW, Sydney, Australia
2002 Sexdecim, GroundFloor Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2002 Hill on Hargrave, Sydney, Australia
2001 WADi Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2000 WADi Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2000 Kapalua Art, Hawaii, USA
1999 JavaJazz, Hawaii, USA
1998 Makawao Gallery, Hawaii, USA
1997 Academy Arts, New York, USA
1996 The Painting Center, New York, USA

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2006 Blue and Other Colours, GroundFloor Gallery, Sydney
2005 Stories, GroundFloor Gallery, Sydney
2004 Back in the USSR, GroundFloor Gallery, Sydney
2003 Domestic, GroundFloor Gallery, Balmain, Sydney
2002 People Places Things, GroundFloor Gallery, Sydney
2001 Warm & Fuzzy, 1 + 2 Artist Studios, Rozelle, Sydney
2001 Bondi WADi, Bondi, Sydney
2000 Lahaina Arts Society, Hawaii, USA
1999 Maui Arts & Cultural Center, Hawaii, USA
1997 YAVA Gallery, New York, USA

Collections

Fine Art Australia, Kazbah, Mezze, Sydney, Australia - Maui Marriott, Kaiser Permanente, Gerard’s Restaurant, Hawaii, USA - Elizabeth Seton Childbirthing Center, YAVA, Gascogne, Chase Manhattan Bank, Academy Arts, Yaso, American Express, New York City, USA

Bibliography and Reviews

Jane Hutchinson, Sunday Telegraph Magazine, Oct 2007
Andrew Frost, The Art Life, July 2006
Shelley McSpedden, The Sydney Morning Herald Critic’s Picks, Aug 2004
Robert Nelson, The Age, December 2003
Fred Fair, Contemporary Arts Society Newsletter, June 2003
Nadine Imperati, CraftArts Issue No. 52, 2001

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Past Exhibitions

Blue and Other Colours - 2 to 23 December 2006

Stories - 12 to 30 October 2005

Back in the USSR - 2004

Domestic - 2003

People Places and Things - 2002

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