Existential photo artists Kuzma Vostrikov and Ajuan Song follow up their hit book Absolutely Augmented Reality with their first UK exhibition at Hoxton 253 gallery.
There’s no conventional wisdom on how to produce an art exhibition during a global pandemic, but Absolutely Augmented Reality isn’t a show with much interest in conventional wisdom.
The UK debut for playful existentialist artists Kuzma Vostrikov and Aujan Song mirrors the colourful chaos of our current world jarringly well.
Producer Halime Özdemin says: “The photos and drawings on display are the ones the artists feel best respond to our current predicament. It’s impossible not to consider that.”
Touted as a “dream world of strange and alluring portraiture” the show features wacky homages to the masters as well as Vostrikov and Song’s distinctive take on a frenetic new decade.
Photographs depict legs protruding out of chairs, people riding bikes up the wall and an anxious-looking woman peering from behind a dusty TV screen.
Özdemir added: “We didn’t want to dwell on everything that’s going on around us, so we created this space of respite through fun and with questioning our existence and the impact of technology in mind.”
The duo’s work calls to mind the quirky nightmarish work of David Lynch or the tragicomic dystopia of Black Mirror.
“I guess it’s the marriage of the surreal and the unknown with the unease the work makes us feel that bring the two together” agreed Özdemir.
With social-distancing the gallery can only hold 15 people at a time with each visit timed for 30 minutes.
“I’m disaster-managing in the sense that should the exhibition coincide with an accelerated rate of exposure, it’s being developed so that people can still immerse themselves in the space without fear of being in contact with others.
“I’m hoping to achieve a reflection of the brilliant escapism of the art and that explosion of colour on film in a faithful and moving way.”
Absolutely Augmented Reality runs at Hoxton 253 in Hoxton Street from November 10 to December 10.
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