Gallery 9B participated for the first time in the third edition of the 1703 fair, which is taking place in St. Petersburg at the Manezh Central Exhibition Hall. The stand brings together the works of six local artists — Yuri Otinov, Polina Pindyur, Yulia Ivanova, Danila Tolstov and members of the Bomse art group, Syoma and Evsti. The young artists independently develop a recognizable visual language and methods, work in different directions and techniques and, at first glance, formally have little in common. On the other hand, the open and clear space of the stand allows you to pay attention to each work and catch the artists' interest in creating fictional universes inhabited by fantastic creatures and grotesque characters — be it Otinov's monstrous masks or angels and living skeletons in Syoma's graphics. By bringing them together, the Gallery becomes a metaverse — for example, a film studio where several films of different genres are shot simultaneously — from horror and historical epics to fantasy and melodrama. The paintings and graphics of Semyon and Evsti, worked out to the smallest detail, resemble storyboards for crime comedies and horror films, the works of Yulia Ivanova refer to the editing process, during which different plots and states of the characters are “glued together”, and Danila Tolstov — to the classics of American animation, while the ceramics and objects of Yuri Otinov and Polina Pindyur act as props for space sagas. When you get to the stand of Gallery 9B, you can penetrate the backstage of the industry of images and special effects, usually hidden from the eyes of the audience.

Text by Elmira Minkina