Firewood
Aidar Ishemgulov

on view at PS1 Close House: October 16 – November 21

opening reception: Friday, October 16, 6-8pm

open gallery hours: T/Th 5-7p, Fri/Sa 11a-1p

ARTIST STATEMENT:

The wood sculptures included in this exhibition (oak, cherry, and ash) have been made over the course of nearly five years of my living in Iowa City. The sculptures reflect several themes: biblical stories, Greek myths, sports, and others.

The process of creating sculpture is quite lengthy, and in order not to lose the relevance of what is happening around us sometimes (when it feels like the scenes from Animal Farm — absurdity, ignorance, all kinds of the negative things that have surfaced), I started making short videos of what I have been doing in my workshop.

The exhibition title — Firewood — is as a reflection on finiteness of life. We want to live it brightly, like fire, but not as quickly as firewood.

ARTIST BIO: Aidar Ishemgulov is a wood sculptor (wood carver), who works in the traditional style of wooden sculpture (figurative composition, animalistics) using modern electric tools and manual tools (axe, chisel, etc). Born in 1976 in the family of an artist, Aidar graduated from the Ufa Institute of Arts in 2000, majoring in painting. After moving to Saint Petersburg, since 2002, Aidar has been working with sculpture. Aidar’s sculptures have been exhibited at multiple exhibitions and symposiums in museums, galleries, and private collections in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Russia, and the USA. Since 2019, Aidar has been living and working in Iowa City.