Press Release: September 28, 2003

Paramus, NJ; September 28, 2003
PRESS RELEASE
The Bergen Museum of Art and Science, in cooperation
with the Kolodzei Art Foundation, present
Finding Freedom: 40 Years of Soviet and Russian Art
Selections from the Kolodzei Collection of Russian and Eastern European Art
October 15, 2003-November 30, 2003
Public Reception Saturday, October 18th from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Sixty works by twenty-five artists have been selected for the exhibition Finding Freedom: 40 Years of Soviet and Russian Art. Selections from the Kolodzei Collection of Russian and Eastern European Art. One or two works per year during this period have been selected to represent the rich diversity of art that emerged and survived during the past forty years in the Soviet Union and Russia. This exhibition illustrates several stages in the evolution of nonconformist (unofficial) and independent art in Russia.
In this exhibition, works are grouped roughly chronologically as well as according to the stages or movements with which the artists are most closely identified. The first group, the artists who began their careers at the time of Khrushchev’s “Thaw” and took part in the first, crucial, unofficial exhibitions of the 1960’s and 1970’s, challenging the official, approved style of Socialist Realism, includes Oleg Vassiliev, Ilya Kabakov, Anatolii Zverev, Dmitri Plavinsky, and Eduard Shteinberg. The second group, those who emerged in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, include Natalia Nesterova and Olga Bulgakova. The third group, those who became known during the 1980’s to the present, the era of Gorbachev, perestroika, and the birth of a free and democratic Russia, include artists who work with photography, mixed media, and digital art forms, such as Tatiana Antoshina and Farid Bogdalov.
The Kolodzei Collection of Russian and Eastern European Art, consisting of paintings, drawings and sculptures by more than three hundred artists, chronicles four decades of Russian and Soviet non-conformist art, from the post-Stalinist era to the present. Works from the Kolodzei Collection have been shown in exhibitions throughout the United States, Europe, and Russia, and there have been numerous articles about the collection in the American, European, and Russian press. The Kolodzei Art Foundation, Inc., founded in 1991, organizes exhibitions in museums and cultural centers in the United States and other countries, provides art supplies to Russian artists, and conducts Russian-American cultural exchanges. For further information about the Kolodzei Art Foundation and the Kolodzei Collection please visit www.KolodzeiArt.org or contact Natalia Kolodzei at Kolodzei@KolodzeiArt.org.
The Bergen Museum of Art and Science, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, was founded in 1956 to provide a center for the purpose of stimulating youth and adult interest in the arts and sciences. The Bergen Museum hosts international exhibitions as well as explores the region’s roots and identity by promoting its regional artists through our exhibitions, the Bergen Music & Art Festival, juried shows, the Youth Art Gallery, music programs, the Holocaust Yom Hashoah Remembrance and visual arts and science programs. Museum hours are from 10 AM to 5 PM Monday through Saturday and till 8 PM on Thursdays.
The Bergen Museum presents these works in partnership with the Kolodzei Art Foundation, Inc. The exhibition is on view from October 15 through November 30, 2003. For more information visit the Museum’s web site www.thebergenmuseum.com or call 201-291-8848.