Monstrosity: Inside and Out - Duck & Dodo
Omer Tiroche Gallery is proud to present Monstrosity: Inside and Out, a group exhibition by female Russian artists collective, Duck & Dodo. The body of works in this exhibition explores the inner monsters which dwell inside each and every one of us and how they have the capacity to transcend and convert into real life monstrosities. The mixed media, figurative pieces by the group will survey the personal demons that haunt our dreams and corrode our days, facing the fears and complexes which consistently occupy the human mind and emerge from terror and insecurity. However, beauty will pervade as it is the reverse of such demonic human conditions. Perfection and monstrosity are two halves of the same whole; the works produced by Duck & Dodo favour the concept that shadows are needed to define the light of goodness, kindness and tenderness. Above all, fear is needed to discover courage.
Together Olga Yerushalmi and Ksenia Nazarov established Duck & Dodo art group with their fellow artists; Olga Vayshbein, Yana Gorelik and Tatiana Papusheva, in 2016, and both serve as the group’s primary curator. The group advocates the constructive conflict which results from the meeting of distinct artistic perspectives. Comprising of graduates from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design and the Holon Institute of Technology, Tel Aviv University, Duck & Dodo’s practice covers a diverse range of mediums. Both Nazarov and Yerushalmi are experienced in printmaking, with Yerushalmi working as head of etching for Israeli artists Itzhak Tarkai, Jacob Agam and Anatoly Krasnyansky amongst others, and Nazarov most recently exploring dry-point etching in her work. The group’s output has a formidable graphic strain owing to illustrative and design work practiced by members Vayshbein, Gorelik and Papusheva, who all work as illustrators. Their works present styles which unify the influence of training in media as diverse as painting, sculpture, and printmaking.
Whilst Yerushalmi’s work reveals a wondrous world populated by tender creatures, which she uses as allegories to human emotions and relationships, Gorelik almost obsessively draws the strange in-betweens that comprise her psychological universe. Papusheva presents two distinct projects within the exhibition; The Industrial Wings explores the state of mind that transforms places into self-aware beings and a further work, made collaboration with Anna Morein, brings hidden fears and anxieties to light through a series of monochromatic portraits. Beginning as simple stains, Vayshbein’s elegant monotypes permit the viewer to discover beasts which hide in the dark. Finally, the Fallen series by Nazarov will navigate an understanding of how constructed insecurities censor a person’s ability to reach fulfilment and content.
Acting as catalysts for each other’s work, the individual artists of Duck & Dodo emphasize the importance of both the individual and the collective. The group remains active in encouraging public engagement with the arts through drawing workshops and group exhibitions. Further examples of their work can be found at graphic design and illustration biennials, as well as shows including Moscow Comics Festival and Tel-Aviv Illustration Week.
