MY GARDEN IS YOUR GARDEN

Fyodor Pavlov-Andreevich seen by Thierry Bal

Thierry Bal is Belgian born UK-based photographer specializes in contemporary art, often working collaboratively with artists, galleries, designers, filmmakers and book publishers. His work has been shown in numerous public and commercial galleries and arts publications worldwide.

Fyodor Pavlov-Andreevich is one of a select few East European artists of his generation who have achieved critical acclaim internationally. Russian born Brazilian performance artist, he creates site-specific installations and long-durational works that he presents worldwide under curatorship of Hans Ulrich Obrist, Klaus Biesenbach, Maria Balshaw, to name but a few, with solo presentations at Deitch Projects (NYC), Künstlerhaus Wien (Vienna), MMOMA (Moscow), SESC (São Paulo), and Palais de Tokyo (Paris). He also owes his renown to The Humble Works, a collaborative show with Marina Abramovic, shown late 2021 at Colnaghi in Mayfair.

Together, Thierry and Fyodor worked on the recent cover of Collectors Agenda, and realized the outcome may become a small show, My Garden Is Your Garden. Fyodor has had his hair at We Are Cuts since 2004, and We Are Cuts show the work of their artists’ friends a few times a year, so that was a match.

The show features photographic documentation of Pavlov-Andreevich’s new live piece documented by Thierry Bal, ‘The Bright Stream (After Shostakovich)’.

That’s what Fyodor says about this work:

‘…Visitors were invited to throw their coins at me, trying to hit my face. This is a performance based on a story about Russian composer Dmitriy Shostakovich, who in the late 1930s spent every night anticipating his arrest. Every night at 10pm, after sending his 3-year-old daughter Galya to sleep, he would pack a small suitcase with a pair of warm socks, warm underwear and a golden coin that his daughter gave to him, then leave the apartment and sleep on the staircase of the building using the suitcase as a pillow. Early in the morning, before Galya would wake up, Shostakovich went back to his bedroom and pretended that nothing was amiss. He spent an entire year doing this while working on the published version of his ballet “The Bright Stream”—hence the title, “The Bright Stream (after Shostakovich)”.