Nilin has been taking photographs for forty years. He has been making T-shirts with slogans for quite a while as well — for over two decades now. In his first solo show following an 18-year hiatus he showcases both of these practices, exploring the non-obvious relationship between image and text. That is, he is doing exactly as the masters of conceptualism instructed. Check out any of their programme texts, and you will immediately come across something along the lines of, ‘The statement is designed to continually elude all attempts at interpretation’. All we can do is describe the exhibition in detail – but this is also pointless since at some point one finds oneself describing the description.

Vikenti Nilin (b. 1971, Moscow) is a Russian artist, poet, novelist, and photographer; an alumnus of the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography; started his career in contemporary art in 1988. Nilin’s works can be found in the collections of the State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow), the Multimedia Art Museum (Moscow), the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (Moscow), and the collection of Charles Saatchi (London).

Selected solo exhibitions:
2009 – The Swindle, residence of the Ambassador of the European Commission to Russia, Moscow
2006 – Whores, XL Gallery, Moscow
2005 – Magic Leaf, Atelier Am Eck, Düsseldorf
2002 – Wishers, Aidan Gallery, Moscow
1999 – Untitled, Aidan Gallery, Moscow

Selected group exhibitions:
2023 – Glamorous Underground, exhibition by VGLAZ Artist Collective, Syntax gallery, Moscow
2016 – Badlands, Zarya CCA, Vladivostok
2016 – …after Glamour, Kunst im Tunnel, Düsseldorf
2014 – The Beauty of Ugliness, the Moscow Exhibition Halls association, Moscow
2012 – Gaiety is the Most Outstanding Feature of the Soviet Union: New Art from Russia, Saatchi Gallery, London
2009 – Russian Lettrism. The artist’s work with text from conceptualism to contemporary art, Central House of Artists, Moscow
2009 – Reasonable Realism, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
2007 – Sots Art: Political Art in Russia, La Maison Rouge, Paris
2007 – Banned Art – 2006, Andrei Sakharov Museum, Moscow
2007 – I Believe, Winzavod CCA, Moscow
2007 – Triennial of Small Sculpture, Fellbach
2007 – Artist’s Diary, Central House of Artists, Moscow
2007 – Sots Art: Political Art in Russia, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
2005 – Comedy, Central House of Artists, Moscow
2005 – Pop Art, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
2004 – Accomplices, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow