Cream of Russian avantgarde in Moscow art show

Project Art Shop Moscow has been launched at the Central Artists' House today to demonstrate the most daring experiments by Russian artists. The project crowns Programme Art Moscow, a sixth international fair co-sponsored by the federal Culture Ministry and Moscow's municipal culture committee. Jointly arranged by a regional public foundation to promote art projects, and the company Expo Park Exposition Projects, the Art Shop Moscow is a nonprofit arrangement which grants the exhibitors complete freedom of self-expression. The show has brought under one roof beginner Muscovite and St. Petersburg artists and top-notch experimenters--suffice it to mention Alexander Brodsky, who won Grand Prix at last year's Milan Europe show, or Sergei Shutov, State Prize nominee for last year, who represented Russia at the latest biennial show in Venice. A trade fair makes one reckon with trends in the art market. The workshop arrangement of the current show contrasts to it by granting the utmost freedom. Exhibitors are doing what they like without caring what tentative clients may think of it. They are welcome to take up whatever topic, style and techniques they choose, point out the organisers. Anyway, it was not they but art critics who were selecting artists to take part in the Art Shop. The choice was up to independent journalists who specialise in contemporary art. The arrangement has provided the best possible objectivity in assessing the artists, and versatility of exposition, say the organisers.