Parallel Universes. From Abstraction to Artefact. The Collection of Natalia Opaleva

The State Russian Museum presents the exhibition project Parallel Universes. From Abstraction to Artefact showing works by 36 artists of the second half of the 20th century from the collection of Natalia Opaleva, a well-known collector, founder and general director of the AZ Museum (Anatoly Zverev). The exhibition introduces visitors of the Marble Palace to more than 200 paintings and graphic works by underground masters of the 1960s–1980s: Anatoly Zverev, Dmitri Plavinsky, Dmitry Krasnopevtsev, Oleg Tselkov, Lidia Masterkova and Ernst Neizvestny.

Almost all of them gained recognition in the second half of the 20th century and started searching for their way in art during the Thaw. Though stylistically diverse their early works shown at the exhibition nevertheless create an integral atmosphere of the epoch.

The collection originated as a mono collection – with Anatoly Zverev’s works – but currently after a lapse of twenty years, it consists of more than 2,500 works by artists representing the Moscow unofficial art scene of the 1960s–1980s, as well as famous Leningrad artists: Evgeny Mikhnov-Voitenko, Evgeny Rukhin, Gleb Bogomolov and Vladimir Sterligov.

The title of the exhibition Parallel Universes. From Abstraction to Artefact defines the vector for its structure. The arrangement of space offered by Anatoly Golyshev, the author of the concept design, resembles an ark with works floating along the imaginary Milky Way. Seven halls showing the collection in its integrity and completeness are strung on the architectural axis. The guests of the exhibition are accompanied by Platon Infante’s media installations, music by the avant-garde composer of the 1960s Nikolai Karetnikov and a documentary film about the Thaw offered by the AZ Museum.