The Art Pledge
Portrait of Mikhail Tolmachev

Mikhail Tolmachev

Born in
1983
From
Moscow, Russian Federation
Lives and works
Leipzig, Germany
Represented by
Osnova Gallery
Website
https://mikhailtolmachev.net/

UN goals

Tags

I’m interested in the methods of an event’s representation. [...] How, in general, the method of communication of visual or textual information works, and what does it have to do with the search of reality and the reality itself? What can this representation tell us about the real event and about us?

Biography

With a background in documentary photography and Media Arts, Mikhail Tolmachev develops an artistic portfolio that investigates experimental documentary practices through audio visual installations, photographic images and spatial interventions. Often working with archival documents and images specially from the war, Mikhail is concerned by the way the historical past has been constructed by the media and different power structures, while also exploring how past events are broadcast to conform a subjective and collective memory. 


The topic and aesthetic charge of a significant part of Mikhail’s works, like in his piece "Pact of Silence" (2016), brings to our mind the work of the French artist Christian Boltanski, and especially his work with photographic albums. In pieces from both of them, historical images and photo albums from the period of Nazi or Soviet rule are manipulated, representing a juxtaposition between reality and fiction. 


His work also situates itself in the tradition of Russian artists acting on the topic of war and its many visual representations, like Natalia Goncharova’s iconic "Mystical images of the war" (1914) lithographies.

Career highlights

Solo shows

Group shows

Collection

Media

Selected artworks

Related artists