Alexei Dymdymarchenko
2019. Three-channel sound. Series of three drawings: graphite pencil, charcoal, wax crayon, pastel on paper.
This work includes a small paper drawing arranged with a large piece of glass tipped at an angle, and an audio track that plays a looped auditory sample of the sounds produced during the making of the drawing.
Dymdymarchenko, through the studio’s curator and translator Alexander Ivanov in collaboration with artist and poet Pavel Grazhdansky, shares the following artist statement:
“What do we see when we encounter this torn and crumpled piece of paper? A piece of chalk leaves a trace when it is thrown at the white surface, and has nothing in common with drawing or any other traditional visual practice. Here, drawing means a gesture and a sound, it is a process with stages that are inaccessible to the observer and remain outside the boundaries of language. Examining the works of Alexei Dymdymarchenko, we face the impossibility of grasping and localizing the image, no matter how profound our knowledge of art and its practices is. Perhaps we should consider this work as a document, in which every mark or dot is accompanied by the sound of the chalk hitting the paper.”
In resonance with Autistic activist Mel [Amanda] Bagg’s concept of non-human language, Dymdymarchenko embraces sound, material, and process. Mark-making is not only a visual output, but a material and auditory experience. In this way, the work draws attention to making itself as a ritual activity for centering sensory perception. Dymdymarchenko’s work, created in the context of living in residential care, and the ways in which the creation of aesthetic works, or artistic practice itself, can be understood as a kind of crip ritual for survival.
Exhibition view of CYFEST-12 International Media Art Festival, Luda Gallery, St. Petersburg, Russia, 2019
Supported by CYLAND MediaArtLab
Special thanks to Anna Frants, Sergey Komarov, Lydia Griaznova and Roman Mozharov
Photos below by Anton Khlabov.
Written Image Description:
In the upper left corner of the image, a pair of black headphones hang upon a thin white rod against a white wall. The black cord of the headphones fall to the bottom of the image. In the lower centre portion of the image, a panel of glass leans against the white wall. The upper right corner of the panel leans against a page covered with a variety of soft, small, seemingly random marks in grey and reddish-brown. The corner of the glass seems to align the darkest point on the page where the mark making is densest at the centre of the page.
Written Image Description:
A close up on a panel of glass leaning against a page covered with a variety of soft, small, seemingly random marks in grey and reddish-brown. The corner of the glass seems to align with the darkest point on the page where the mark making is densest.
Sounds in the Studio
Audio Clip:
Written Description of Audio:
As a sound continuation/dimension of Dymdymarchenko’s graphic work, this audio shares the sounds that occurred during the artist’s work in the studio including the dropping and manipulation of crayons and chalk pastels onto paper.
Alexei Dymdymarchenko in Process
Photo below by Oksana Bashta.
Written Image Description:
A light-skinned young man with dark brown hair in a bright blue t-shirt sits at a table with a pile of crayons and chalk pastels in many colors that has recently been dumped out of a dark blue plastic bin onto a paper on a table top.
Written Image Description:
A person wearing a checkered sweater and headphones stands in front of three drawings, which are hung side-by-side on a white wall.
Written Image Description:
A series of three drawings hung horizontally on a white wall. The drawings depict a variety of small and soft markings.
Written Image Description:
A series of three drawings hung on a white wall. On the adjacent wall, there is a pair of black headphones hung up.
#CripRitual 