Slava Shevelenko

Bestiarium, installation, detail
Marta Volkova (1955, RU/NL) and Slava Shevelenko (1953, RU/NL) both studied at the Royal Academy of Arts (St. Petersburg). They have lived and worked in the Netherlands for many years.

Perhaps the subtitle of Marta Volkovan’s and Slava Shevelenko’s exhibition is the best way to describe their work: “an exhibition that might have been” (Marres Maastricht, ‘The Russian Schizorevolution, an exhibition that might have been’, 2009). They represent events which never took place, but might well have done. They present their work in a setting, combining historical facts with fiction to arrive at a convincing description of a fictitious event. Making use of a whole range of materials and techniques (ceramics, drawings, paintings, installations, etc.), they create an illusion. Only very slowly does it dawn on the spectator that what he is looking at is an illusion.