Art | Bessmertny to exhibit 34 recent works

The Macao Museum of Art (MAM) will host an exhibition showcasing the recent works of Russian-born painter Konstantin Bessmertny. The Macau-based artist will present some 34 pieces composed of multiple mediums including painting, sculpture, installation and mixed media.
The exhibition, titled “Ad Lib – Recent Works of Konstantin Bessmertny”, will be inaugurated on Friday on the 2nd floor of the museum at 6:30 p.m. After the ceremony, one hundred posters with the artist’s signature will be distributed on a first come, first served basis.
Bessmertny has resided in Macau since 1993, where he has devoted himself to artistic creation. His art reflects impressions and observations of the city’s dramatic changes since then, understood through the dual perspectives of a foreigner and an insider.
“Ad lib” is the shorthand for the Latin phrase “ad libitum”, which means “at one’s pleasure”. According to a statement from MAM, Bessmertney has expressed a desire to refrain from giving his exhibition a definite theme, instead opting “to bring us a bustling and humorous visual feast, in which he shares his personal musings and wittily responds to different phenomena happening in society.”
“By employing absurdity and humor, [Bessmertny] creates works that express ideas from philosophy, politics, theology, art history, cinema and music, leading viewers to reflect on various social issues from multiple angles,” surmises an additional statement issued by Macau’s Cultural Affairs Bureau.
The artist once told the Times in an interview in 2014 that he felt it was his “duty” to exhibit in Macau on a regular basis, even though the demand for art consumption was still lacking.
“It’s my duty [to exhibit here regularly]. I’m a local; I live here,” he told the Times. “Everything that comes up – like a museum request – of course I have to support it. I do my best.”
The exhibition opens on Friday and will run until May 28 next year. Admission is MOP5 except on Sundays and public holidays when it is free of charge. The museum is closed on Mondays. DB