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Life and Work

Aljoscha © Aljoscha

In his drawings, sculptures, and installations, Aljoscha addresses topics such as biology and the theory of life, as well as bioism, which serves as a utopian model for new forms of life or living beings, but also with the great philosophical and scientific questions about life itself. He says: »I regard art as one of the highest human activities. For me, it represents a philosophy, perhaps even a religion. In this sense, I try to create an aesthetic utopia.«1

His filigree, futuristic-looking acrylic objects and installations made of pigmented acrylic glass have both a sculptural and painterly quality. Drawing and painting play an essential role at the beginning of his artistic process. His experiments with painting and color are the starting point for his three-dimensional works. The material’s transparency and fragility and the form’s ephemeral nature have been deliberately chosen as their floating state evokes mobility and dynamism. Inspired by the organic form of our microcosm, the artist, who is at the same time a scientist, works to create new connections rooted in infinity, indescribability, and unfamiliarity. He is just as interested in the inner appearance, which radiates »bio-futuristic sublimity and bliss«, as he is in the outer one, whereby the seemingly arbitrary stringing together of individual sculptures turns a larger whole into an organism.

The small sculptures—seemingly biological or organic objects—at times recall the filigree structure of corals, an aesthetic that can only be found in nature. Aljoscha creates new worlds with his unique formal language, while raising questions about the individual, their freedom, and broader social processes from a bio-ethical perspective.

The exhibition title »peak experience« is a logical continuation of the themes of the installation »A Biology of Happiness«, which was realized at the Kunstraum Dornbirn in 2017. This term comes from biological studies of human emotions and unique life experiences, where euphoria and exuberance, eudaimonia and joie de vivre, as well as idealism, play a central role. These terms are all linked with bio-futuristic visual experiences in an aesthetic sense.

Aljoscha, born 1974 as Aleksey Alekseevich Potupin in Glukhov, Ukraine, was a guest student at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf with Prof. Konrad Klapheck from 2001 to 2002 and studied with Shirin Neshat at the Internationale Sommerakademie für Bildende Kunst Salzburg in 2006. In 2008 he received the 1st prize in sculpture at the XXXV. Premio Bancaja, Valencia, Spain and in 2009 the sculpture prize »Schlosspark 2009« in Cologne. In 2010, he realized the installation project »bioism uprooting populus«, which was sponsored by the Karin Abt-Straubinger Stiftung in Stuttgart. In November 2018, Aljosha represented the Ukraine in the »1914/1918 – Not Then, Not Now, Not Ever« at the German Bundestag, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. His works are represented in numerous private collections and museums, including the Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art in St. Petersburg, the Kupferstichkabinett Berlin, and the State Museum of Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki.

The artist has lived and worked in Düsseldorf since 2003.

1 http://salve-magazine.de/aljoscha/

Biography

1974 born in Glukhov, UA
2001/02 Guest student at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, DE, with Prof. Konrad Klapheck
2006 International Summer Academy of Fine Arts Salzburg, AT, in the class Shirin Neshat and Shoja Azari
lives and works in Duesseldorf, DE

Prizes and Awards

2020 Pollock-Krasner Grant, Pollock-Krasner Foundation, New York, US
2016 Perron-Kunstpreis, Frankenthal, DE
2011 Stipendium des Kunstgarten Graz, Graz, AT
Wilhelm-Morgner-Preis, Museum Wilhelm-Morgner-Haus, Soest, DE
2010 Stipendium der Hybrid Art Projects, El Zonte, SV
2009 Kunstpreis »Schlosspark 2009«, Cologne, DE
2008 1. Preis für Skulptur – XXXV Premio Bancaja de Escultura, Fundación Bancaja, Valencia, ES

Works (Selection)

Aljoscha, bject 380, 2022
Aljoscha, bject 380, 2022
Aljoscha, object 379, 2022
Aljoscha, object 379, 2022
Aljoscha, p-landscape #29, 2017
Aljoscha, p-landscape #29, 2017
Aljoscha, p-landscape #37, 2020
Aljoscha, p-landscape #37, 2020
Aljoscha, Invincible Happiness Not Just For Humans, But For All Sentient Life I, 2022
Aljoscha, p-landscape #41, 2020
Aljoscha, Invincible Happiness Not Just For Humans, But For All Sentient Life II, 2022
Aljoscha, p-landscape #38, 2020
Aljoscha, p-landscape #39, 2020
Aljoscha, p-landscape #45, 2021
Aljoscha, p-landscape #46, 2021
Aljoscha, p-landscape #47, 2022
Aljoscha, p-landscape #48, 2022
Aljoscha, p-landscape #49, 2022
Aljoscha, Urpflanze II, 2021
Aljoscha, Urpflanze II, no. 2, 2021
Aljoscha, Urpflanze II, no. 6, 2021
Aljoscha, Bioethical Transsubstatiation II (TEFAF New York 2019), 2019
Aljoscha, Miraculous Draught (St. John the Divine, New York City, 2020/2021), 2020
Aljoscha, object 246, 2017
Aljoscha, object 216, 2015, © Aljoscha
Aljoscha, drawing to object 10, 2005
Aljoscha, drawing to object 14, 2005
Aljoscha, object 194, 2014
Aljoscha, object 25, 2006
Aljoscha, object 41, 2007
Aljoscha, object 62 / bronze 06, 2008

Videos

16 March 2022 / © Aljoscha

Solo exhibitions (selection)

2023 Composing Bioethical Choices, Fondazione Made in Cloister, Naples, IT
2022 Aljoscha, Dommuseum Hildesheim, Hildesheim, DE
Reinvigorated, Rejuvenated, Katharinen-Kirche | Burg Bentheim (gopea-kunstraum), Bentheim, DE
Der evolutionäre Optimismus, Bucerius Kunst Forum, Hamburg, DE
Wesen für Frieden und Freiheit, Kunstverein Gelsenkirchen, Gelsenkirchen, DE
Bioethische Abweichung als Grundprinzip der Paradiesgestaltung, Johanneskirche, Dusseldorf, DE
Invincible Happiness Not Just For Humans, But For All Sentient Life, Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art, Dusseldorf, DE
Extraterrestrial Origin of Life, Technische Universität, Dresden, DE
2020 Miraculous Draught, St. John the Divine, New York, US
2019 Urpflanze, Goethe-Museum Düsseldorf, Dusseldorf, DE
2018 Peak Experience, Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art, Vienna, AT
Panspermia, Anna Nova Gallery, St. Petersburg, RU
2017 A Biology of Happiness, Kunstraum Dornbirn, Dornbirn, AT
Know Thyself, Donopoulos International Fine Arts, Mykonos, GR
The Gates of the Sun and the Land of Dreams, Museum Schloss Benrath, Dusseldorf, DE
The Gates of the Sun and The Land of Dreams, Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art, Dusseldorf, DE
A Notion of Cosmic Teleology, Sala Santa Rita, Rome, IT
Early Earth Was Purple, Ural Vision Gallery, Budapest, HU
2016 Iconoclasm and Bio Ism, Julia Ritterskamp, Dusseldorf, DE
Auratic Objects, Donopoulos International Fine Arts, Thessaloniki, GR
From Homo Faber to Homo Creator, Galerie Martina Kaiser, Cologne, DE
Lotophagie – Lotus-eaters – Aljoscha, Anna Nova Art Gallery, St. Petersburg, RU
Archaeen, Galerie Martina Kaiser, Cologne, DE
Bioethics, Gallery Y, Minsk, BY
2015 Paradise Engineering, Flora, Cologne, DE
Hadaikum, Galerie Martina Kaiser, Cologne, DE
Animism and Bioism, National Museum of Natural History, Sofia, BG
Funiculus umbilicalis, St. Petri, Dortmund, DE
Synthetic – Elysium, Daab Verlag, Cologne, DE
2014 Bioism, Erarta Museum, St. Petersburg, RU
Lotuseffekt, Goethe Institut, Sofia, BG
2013 We love you stars. May you adore us, Galerie Junig, Cologne, DE
5 Lichtjahre lang sind und an deren Spitze sich neue Sterne befinden, Raum e.V., Dusseldorf, DE
Daidaleia – the presence of fabulous edifices, Donopoulos International Fine Arts, Thessaloniki, GR
2012 Sensorial Panopticum, Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art, Dusseldorf, DE
Abiogenesis, Kunstraum d-52, Dusseldorf, DE
2011 Objekt als Wesen, Kunstverein APEX, Göttingen, DE
Bioism Involved, Kunstgarten Graz, Graz, AT
2010 Living architectures, Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art / Henn Galerie, Munich, DE
Bioism aims to spread new and endless forms of life throughout the universe, Artunited, Vienna, AT
The children of Daedalus, Donopoulos International Fine Arts, Thessaloniki, GR
2009 Biofuturism, Krefelder Kunstverein, Krefeld, DE
Bioism, Museo di Palazzo Poggi, Bologna, IT
2008 Objects – Drawings – Paintings, Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art, Dusseldorf, DE
0

Group exhibitions (selection)

2018 Complexellence, WhiteSpaceBlackBox, Neuchâtel, CH
1914/1918 – Not Then, Not Now, Not Ever, Deutscher Bundestag, Berlin, DE
2017 A Posteriori, Ural Vision Gallery, Yekaterinenburg, RU
Uncommon Bloom, Villa Renata, Basel, CH
Sic tempora mutantur, Schloss Reuschenberg, Neuss, DE
2016 Grenzenlos, Schlosskirche, Bonn, DE
We Care a Lot, Vorgebirgspark Skulptur, Cologne, DE
Missing Link, Künstlerforum, Bonn, DE
2015 Ein Baum ist ein Baum ist ein Baum..., Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art, Dusseldorf, DE
Panopticon, Special Project der 6. Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow, RU
Cross Borders 2015, Masc Foundation, Vienna, AT
Visions Of Sensory Space, Galerie Voss, Dusseldorf, DE
Neue russische Avantgarde, Galerie Kellermann, Dusseldorf, DE
Dahlhausen Viral, Kunstmuseum Ahlen, Ahlen, DE
Seltsame Wissenschaften, Kunstverein Sundern, Sundern, DE
2014 Mission O14, Ostrale, Dresden, DE
Kunst in der Stadt – Stadtkunst Bonn, Gesellschaft für Kunst und Gestaltung, Bonn, DE
Skulptur!, Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art, Dusseldorf, DE
2013 Rosebud, Teapot, Cologne, DE
Zeitenwechsel, Galerie Splettstößer, Kaarst, DE
Born To Fly... And Crawl, The State Russland Museum, St. Petersburg, RU
Renaissance Reloaded, Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art, Dusseldorf, DE
Einheit und Trennung von Polaritäten– schwarz – weiß, Unique Gallery mit Galerie Martina Kaiser, Cologne, DE
Same same – but different, Gesellschaft für Kunst und Gestaltung, Bonn, DE
2012 The Space Between, Donopoulos International Fine Arts, Thessaloniki, GR
Accrochage, Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art, Dusseldorf, DE
2011 S(l)idewalkshow, Artunited, Vienna, AT
Accrochage... Plus Ein Paar Favoriten, Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art, Dusseldorf, DE
Monte Verità, Kunstverein Familie Montez, Frankfurt/Main, DE
Schnittstelle | Muster (2), Gesellschaft für Kunst und Gestaltung, Bonn, DE
Animal, Donopoulos International Fine Arts - DIFA, Thessaloniki, GR
Arbeiten auf Papier, Galerie Splettstößer, Kaarst, DE
2010 Jahresgaben, Krefelder Kunstverein, Krefeld, DE
TINA B. – The Prague Contemporary Art Festival, Prague, CZ
Darmstädter Sezession, Darmstadt, DE
Fuzzy Logic, Thompson Gallery, Weston, US
Symbio (Biopolis), Galerie Václava Špály, Prague, CZ
2009 ...Von Abakanowicz bis Conroy, Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art, Dusseldorf, DE
Kunst im Kurpark, Malente-Gremsmühlen, DE
2008 Crystal Lightness, Bernhard Knaus Fine Art, Frankfurt/ Main, DE
Skulptur, Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art, Dusseldorf, DE
2005 Pirateria e.V, Cologne, DE
ArToll Kunstlabor, Bedburg-Hau, DE

EXHIBITIONS AT BECK & EGGELING (SELECTION)

Publications

Aljoscha. B-Meetings 2009–2012

Aljoscha. B-Meetings 2009–2012

  • Artist: Aljoscha
    Editor: Beck & Eggeling Kunstverlag
    Text: Georg Elben
    Design: Beck & Eggeling (Linda Inconi)
  • German, English
    Hardcover, 28 x 21 cm
    48 pages, 62 illustrations
  • Beck & Eggeling Kunstverlag, 2012
    ISBN 978-3-93091976-5
  • 20 €
Order More
Aljoscha. Objects

Aljoscha. Objects

  • Artist: Aljoscha
    Editor: Ute Eggeling, Michael Beck
    Text: Antonia Lehmann-Tolkmitt
  • German, English
    Hardcover, 28,5 x 22,2 cm
    67 pages, 66 illustrations
  • Beck & Eggeling Kunstverlag, 2008
    ISBN 978-3-93091952-9
  • 25 €
Order
Further publications

bibliography

Aljoscha, Eine Biologie des Glücks, hg. von Thomas Häusle (Ausst.-Kat. Kunstraum Dornbirn), Dornbirn 2018
Aljoscha, A Biology Of Happiness, hg. von Thomas Häusle (Ausst.-Kat. Kunstraum Dornbirn), Dornbirn 2018
Aljoscha, The Gates Of The Sun And The Land Of Dreams, 2017

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