Konstantin BESSMERTNY 君士坦丁
Nanban-jin 南蛮人
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Konstantin BESSMERTNY
Nanban-jin 11 – 14 September 2024 Tokyo Gendai 東京現代 2025 Booth B09 Pacifico Yokohama, Exhibition Hall C&D Gallery EXIT is delighted to present ‘Nanban-jin’, a solo exhibition by Konstantin BESSMERTNY at Tokyo Gendai 2025. With a career spanning over 30 years, the Macau-based artist seamlessly integrates painting, drawing, sculpture, and installation into a tapestry of Eastern and Western influences. His playful and richly textured works are imbued with layered meanings, inviting viewers into a realm where classical and contemporary references collide.
Bessmertny’s artworks offer sharp yet humorous reflections on history, culture, and identity. Straddling the past and the present, his pieces challenge notions of cultural dominance while envisioning a post-Anglocentric world. In ‘View of Lisbon in the Year of the Dragon AD MDLXVIII (1568)’, the Nanban trade between Portugal and Japan is reimagined as an alien encounter, capturing the wonder and upheaval of 16th-century cultural exchanges through the eyes of an imagined Eastern traveler. Conversely, Love Stories, a series of oil sketches, parodies Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams. Set against exotic backdrops like Japan’s Lake Ashi or the Roman Colosseum, the series transforms lovers into ronin, gladiators, and Highlanders, weaving absurdity and introspection into dreamlike narratives. One of Bessmertny’s recent focuses is folding screens, inspired by his travels through Japan, Beijing, and New York. In ‘Going to the East, Going to the West (Nanban-Jin)’, he employs traditional East Asian techniques, painting on washi paper and embellishing it with gold leaf. The work, created on a gold-leaf screen discovered in a rural Japanese village, depicts vagabonds journeying between East and West. Undeterred by chaos, they embody the resilience, courage, and beauty of cultural convergence. Bessmertny’s works have been extensively exhibited worldwide. Recent exhibitions include solo shows ‘Journey to the East’ (Gallery EXIT, Hong Kong, 2024), ‘BIG & small’ (Galeria Monumental, Lisbon, Portugal), ‘Le Grand Exil’ (Pontus Maximus Productions, Macau, 2023), ‘VOYAGE’ (Military Club, Macau, 2021, 2020, 2019), ‘INTERMISSION; INTERSECTION; Ambitus II’ (The Arts Club, London, 2018), ‘Ambitus I’ (Rossi & Rossi, London, UK, 2017), ‘and ‘Ad Lib - Recent Works of Konstantin Bessmertny’ (Macao Museum of Art, Macau, 2016). Group exhibitions include: ‘Macao International Art Biennale’ (Macao Cultural Centre, Macau, 2023), ‘Shek-O Sublime’ (Gallery EXIT, Hong Kong, 2019), ‘Crossroads ‧ Another Dimension: the Cross-Straight Four-Regions Artistic Exchange Project’ (Hong Kong City Hall, 2014), and more. In 2007, he represented Macau at the 52nd International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale. His works were acquired by multiple collections, including Guangdong Museum of Art, Macau Museum of Art, M+ Museum (Hong Kong), Centro Cientifico e Cultural de Macau (Lisbon), Portugal Missão de Macau (Lisbon) and many more. Bessmertny was awarded Bronze Medal for Painting at the International Art Exhibition by Museum of Chinese Revolution in Beijing in 2000; First Prize for Painting at the International Art Competition by the International Institute of Macau in 2001; Prize for Excellence at the Contemporary Artists Exhibition in Beijing in 2003. The artist currently lives and works in Macau and Hong Kong. |