Skolyshev Vladimir: Red Girl

EVENT DESCRIPTION

Nothing At All, a brand-new art space located in the art hub of Central, has officially opened on June 11. In addition to bringing artistic vibe to the neighbourhood in Tai Ping Shan Street, Nothing At All also aims to provide a platform for emerging artists and encourage artistic creation and development. For its inaugural show, it brings the Grodno artist Skolyshev Vladimir (also known as Sko1y) and his works to this art space, presenting the exciting exhibition Red Girl.

Founded by a group of art-loving collectors and curators, Nothing At All is dedicated to discover and promote emerging artists, who have shown significant potential with their unique styles. To further expand and diversify the art scene in Hong Kong, Nothing At All is bringing a diversity of unseen artists and artworks from all over the world, including Asia, North America, Europe and Africa.

Born in Grodno, Skolyshev started as a self-taught artist with limited support or resources. This summer, he is making his debut in Hong Kong at the art space of Nothing At All, turning up the heat of the city through his fiery images. Skolyshev’s style is unique and captivating – through adopting simple and neat lines to portray his “Red Girl” which are subtly embedded with different kinds of emotions, the artist hopes to create a strong and refreshing impression for his audiences.

Speaking of “red”, the colour is always referred to sign of danger, fear and anger. However, as interpreted by Skolyshev, red is simply beautiful and full of light. The theme of “Red Girl” takes on this interpretation and hence brings a totally remarkable experience to the audiences. Skolyshev has developed his own minimal artistic style from composing the subjects with neat, black outlines on a homogenous red background. When one pays close attention to the painting, it is not difficult to find that the colour fields of the canvas are cleverly divided with a strong visual impact of split and tension, attracting him or her to enter this red world unconsciously.

It may be strange to find pencil marks on Skolyshev’s paintings, but Skolyshev explains that these are traces of his initial sketches to be intentionally kept in the final works, which are regarded by him as important components of an art piece. Although the subject of Skolyshev’s works always bears smiling face, it does not feel monotonous and boring at all. Skolyshev’s dedication to his style shines through his works; they are simple in form, harmonious in colour, full of cartoonish details and artistic rhythms. These form a particularly unique visual language of the artist and imbue the composition with his vigorous emotions.

Each “Red Girl” speaks a story. Each of them is unique. They never repeat with each other. They are consistently applied with a uniform and cheerful smile, long, straight and black hair and white gloves. You may wonder who they represent; more than aesthetic subjects, they are embodiments of the emotions of the artist, expressing the pure beauty, boldness, sincerity of young girls, as well as the primitive desires of human beings, which provides a sense of satirical humour in the world of realism.

These girls in Skolyshev’s works sometimes play with an iPhone in her hand, or wear a crown, or work diligently, or turn into a smiling vampire dripping with blood. No matter how the story is outlined in the picture, the red hue subtly adds an allusion and a sense of wittiness to the painting, providing the viewer with a feeling of courage and exhilaration, hence encouraging everyone to embrace different emotions. Like the “Red Girl”, each of us is unique.

Besides showcasing eighteen paintings by Skolyshev in the exhibition, Nothing At All has commissioned a unique “Red Girl” sculpture with a height of 1.8 meters for this exhibition. Alongside the unique works, two limited-edition sculptures of 75 pieces are also available to contribute to the diversity of the art space. Priority of purchasing these limited-edition sculptures are given to the collectors of any of the unique paintings.

The mission of Nothing At All, to pursue pioneering innovation, is not only reflected in the carefully curated selection of artists presented in its exhibitions, but also in the acceptance of the latest currency payment method – crypto currency, which allows the process of collecting art more diversified and digitalised in this era.