Exhibition „RUSSIA IS FAMOS – Girls Girls Girls“ by Olivia Altmann February/2018

My inspiration for the series “RUSSIA IS FA-MOS!” was my reflection on the phenomenon of the “oligarch”.  In a certain way the idea of the oligarch is connected with our western image of Russia itself. Some of their children seem to compete by showing off on instagram and therefore even move to posh cities. The other cliché at hand is the traditional iconocraphy of the “typical Russian”, what so ever, and I decided to make both my topic at the same time. This combination leads through my series of pictures like a postmodern fairy tail. Somehow it feels to me, as if I would become a part of this particular fairy tail itself, just my tuning into these contemporary narratives, pretending to be exploring the “Russian ways” in this manner.

My intention is to merge these representations into icons of those phantasms I would identify as the current perception of Russia abroad. I always focus on the facial expressions to intensify the character of this complex interaction between cultures and people.
Therefore I portrait Russian celebreties, oligarchs and aristocrats, just as well as people that I know in person, who then appear in those stereotypes, as described above.

“RUSSIA IS FA-MOS!” is the result of my journey through these icons of (miss-)understanding each other, led together as the substrate of my artistic expression as a painter or “image maker”.