Friday night saw the opening of a new exhibit at the University of Wyoming Art Museum from renown artist Anton Ginzburg.
Students and the Laramie public alike are invited to experience sister pieces Ashnest and Hyperborea, two explorations of time and myth featuring 45 minutes of striking film and 40,000 year old Mammoth tusks.
Ginzburg, a native Russian now living and teaching in New York City, has shown his many sculptural, architectural, and graphic works in many locations globally including Canada, Paris, London, and Germany.
Ashnest itself was originally shown at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011 and will now have a home in Laramie for the next 6 months.
The work stands at an imposing 14 feet tall and spans 16 feet in diameter supported by anchoring rods ending in a nest of soft gray ash. The ancient Mammoth ivory is a stark and weighted contrast against its white background, and white curving elements.
The form of Ashnest is modeled after 3rd printings of human bone and conceptually deals with, as put by the artist, “a past which keeps repeating itself.”
Hyperborea is known as the Atlantis of the north, a perhaps mythical Utopian society “above the borea (northern lights).”
While the legend of Hyperborea can be traced back to the ancient Grecian historians, the 20th century saw a resurgence of its relevance in the modern age as any number of newly formed countries claimed to be the descendants of Hyperboreans.
“This project started with a newspaper article claiming they had found Hyperborea in the Arctic Circle” described Anton Ginzburg during the artist talk.
Curiosity led to further research and ultimately the fascination compelled the artist to explore three suggested locations of Hyperborea; Ginzburg’s hometown of Saint Petersburg, Russia , Astoria, Oregon, and the Arctic Circle.
The expedition is documented in the 45 minute film Hyperborea. A map making figure played by Ginzburg explores Hyperborea as a lost land but also as a state of mind, and is accompanied by a shock of bright red smoke.
“It needed to be something that engages the landscape without altering the landscape and the red smoke was that.”
Both works are open to the public until June 3rd. The third element of the art trilogy, Anton Ginzburg’s book created in accompaniment with Hyperborea and Ashnest is available for purchase at the University of Wyoming Art Museum.
