Dmitry Alexandrovich Shorin (; born 28 April 1971 in Novosibirsk, USSR) is an artist and sculptor.
Biography
Shorin studied at the graphic arts department of the Gorky Pedagogical Institute in Omsk (1987–1988) and at the Academy of Public Services in Omsk, specializing in costume design (1988–1990). He continued his education at the Academy of Public Services in St. Petersburg (1990–1992).
In 1993 he joined the Association of Artists “Free Culture” of Art Center “Pushkinskaya, 10”.
Shorin has had over 70 exhibitions in Russia, Europe and America. He participated in the 1st and 3rd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, the 55th Venice Biennale, HangART-7 in Salzburg, and art shows in Kyiv, Madrid, Athens, Vienna, Miami, Paris and London.
His works are on permanent display in the State Russian Museum, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, and Erarta, and have been presented in numerous museum and personal collections.
His paintings have been auctioned at major international auction houses such as Sotheby's (Sotheby's 2020, Sotheby's 2021) and Phillips de Pury.
In 2008 he held a solo exhibition at the Marble Palace of the State Russian Museum. In 2009 he was nominated for the Kandinsky Prize in the category "Project of the Year". In 2013 his project “I believe in angels” was presented at the 55th Venice Biennale.
In 2013, four glass fiber figures of angels with airplanes' wings from his project "I Believe in Angels" were placed in the departure hall of Terminal 1 of Pulkovo Airport in Saint Petersburg.
His work created in collaboration with a musician Sergei Shnurov was relocated to Pulkovo in 2014.
Special projects
“I Believe in Angels”
The project evolved from a proposal to create sculptures for Sheremetyevo International Airport. It was supposed to create a monument to Icarus taking off with wings from a real IL-86 on the territory of the terminal. Icarus would represent new power and strength, his non-burning wings would not melt, but would allow him to fly in a cruel atmosphere. As a result, the plot appeared only in the painting “IL-86” in 2010, and the project with the sculptures was changed. The sketch had a Barbie with airplane wings attached from a plane model, where the fuselage was taken in proportion to the body of the barbie.
The perfect body began to point to the angels, and instead of swan wings, they had new, powerful jet engines. Each represents a guardian angel with collective responsibility. A kind of frivolous angels who did not save the passengers of the flight — the wings of each were identical to a certain brand of aircraft with the identification numbers of the board that died in major plane crashes. The project pointed to the human factor in man-made disasters. The angels, being distracted by household chores, did not save the wards entrusted to them.
Then the concept grew into the idea of Belief into The Angels and they turned into guardian angels who have the same wings as airplanes and can follow up a person in the sky.
The project visited Erarta exhibitions in 2013 in London, New York, Zurich and at the 55th Venice Biennale at Palazzo Bembo in Venice.
Four sculptures are located in the Pulkovo airport terminal and two are in the Erarta Museum in St. Petersburg.
Airfield
“Airfield” is a joint exhibition project of Dmitry Shorin and Sergey Shnurov. The ramp on the runway is a symbol of constant movement, working 24/7 so that people can leave the house, or find it. Airfield is a work about the love of travel, sadness in parting and nostalgia for the old Pulkovo, where the artists spent time before their often flights.
“In the gallery, we imitate a runway with markings. In the painting “Airfield”, the building of Pulkovo Airport, two liners, people go down the ladders. We want to show the real gates of the modern metropolis” – Dmitry Shorin.
Now the diptych hangs in the Pulkovo airport terminal.
Apology of Delusions
A special project was painted picture after picture for exhibition in museums from 2015 to 2018, with non-typical plots and large sizes.
Apology includes 17 paintings from two series “Flowers” (Stargazer, Yak and Poppy, Peony, Lotus, Rose, I am waiting for you at 8 on Mayakovskaya) and “Forest” (Lumen, Scarlet, Pushkin, Pic Nic, Winter, Tanya, Birch Juice, Lambs, Morning in the Forest, April, Apologia of Delusions).
“I wanted to have a dialogue with myself about wandering in the inner aesthetic and psychological territory. Where I find flashes of objects that have not been explored until today. I appealed to a person, and now to a semi-abstract medium and created a non-existent world of illusions, deja vu, mixed with dreams and reality” – Dmitry Shorin.
Paintings visited exhibitions: 2018 — “Apology of Delusions”, Fine Art Gallery. Moscow, Russia. 2018 — “Scarlet”, A. Kasteyev State Museum of Arts. Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan. 2019 — “Swan and Odette” (with Eva Shorina), New Museum. Saint-Petersburg, Russia. 2020 –- “Today is the past of Tomorrow”
NFT
Dmitry started issuing NFTs in 2021. The first series is animated paintings. It includes the works “Banzai”, “Nefertiti”, and “Two Skies”. The first drop on the Foundation platform was included in the NFT sales rating of Russian Artists according to TANR.
The second Over series deals with the digital nature of sculptures and their presence in the metaverse.
“The digital world is a place of reflections and projections, with emotions and receptors twisted to the maximum. NFT is an ephemeral unit. It is pure, unrestricted implementation of the concept, written in digital language. In this series, each work has its own separate concept and reference — real-life sculptures. But their incarnations and reflections are a touch of digitality and a trace from their elevation into a new medium of the meta-universe” – Dmitry Shorin.
Series “Heads”
The project with objects on the head includes the paintings “Ilyushin”, ”Star”, “On/Off”, “7 o'clock”, “Nefertiti” 2014 and “Nefertiti” 2021, as well as sculptures “Yuna” and “Tima”. A series with children's heads and technological structures is an allegory about analog thinking It tell us about children who began to re-penetrate the physics of things and the essence of things in their analog structure. On their heads are cylinders of a star-shaped aircraft engine, and their minds are directed deep into phenomena, despite global computerization. At the moment, the sculptures "Yuna" and "Tima" are located at the Riga airport.
Series “Beach”
The “Beach” series includes the films “Tomorrow is the Last Day”, “May Be”, “Flight from Moscow”, “Departure before 12”, “La Plage” and “Courchevel”. Shorin wrote of the series:
“The artist does not know the feeling of wanting to go on vacation, because he is always working. The constant thirst for rest, on the one hand, is understandable, but on the other hand, it surprises me that people try to relax even after a vacation. The creation of this time gradation “from vacation to vacation”, the cyclical nature of life and the expectation of a new cycle when the previous one has not ended are the main themes of this series”.
Chronology of exhibitions
Museum exhibitions
2021 — “The Next Day” / “A Következő Napon”, CCA im. S. Kuryokhin (Saint-Petersburg, Russia), Miskolci Galéria (Miskolc, Hungary) Afisha, ArtMoscow, Yarcenter, ArtTube. Gallerix, Myseldon, Nevnov, Artvesti, Design-mate, Above Art, Colta, Bezformata, Sobaka. 2020 — “Today is the past Tomorrow”, State Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia Museum, Realnoevremya, Forsmi, Tatar-inform, Ramler, ArtTube. 2019 — “Swan and Odette” (with Eva Shorina), New Museum. Saint-Petersburg, Russia New Museum, ArtTube. 2019 — “Plastic Mass”, Marble Palace. Saint-Petersburg, Russia Russian Museum, Museum news, Admagazine, Kulturomania, Spbvedomosti, Sobaka, Peterburg Center. 2018 — “Apology of Delusions”, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Fine Art Gallery. Moscow, Russia MMoMA, Gallery Fine Art, Iz, Independent, RenTv, M24, Museum news, ArtTube. 2018 — “Scarlet”, A. Kasteyev State Museum of Arts. Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan Museum news, Rusevr.asia, City Style Life, Evrazia-Ural, Sxodim. 2015 — “Analogue of the Deity”, Erarta. Saint-Petersburg, Russia Erarta, Kudago. 2014 — “Ready to fly?”, Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Moscow, Russia 2013 —“I believe in Angels”, Erarta Gallery. London, UK 2013 — “I believe in Angels”, Erarta Gallery. New York, USA 2013 — “I believe in Angels’, Erarta Gallery. Zurich, Switzerland 2013 — “Born to fly and… to crawl”, Benois Wing of the State Russian Museum. Saint-Petersburg, Russia 2012 — “We are (not) alone”, Erarta. Saint Petersburg, Russia 2012 — Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve. Moscow, Russia 2011 — “Holidays”, Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Moscow, Russia 2011 — “Windows and doors”, State Russian Museum. Saint-Petersburg, Russia 2009 — “Self-portrait”, Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Moscow, Russia 2008 — Selection Art Moscow 2008. Modern Perspectives, Muravyov-Apostol Estate. Moscow, Russia 2001 — Museum of Nonconformism, Art Center Pushkinskaya 10. Saint-Petersburg, Russia
Biennale
2019 — Florence Biennale, dedicated to the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci. Florence, Italy 2013 — 55th Venice Biennale, Palazzo Bembo. Venice, Italy 2009 — “Desktop: War and Peace”. Exhibition within the parallel program of the III Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Fine Art Gallery. Moscow, Russia 2005 —“Girls' Best Friends”, Exhibition within the framework of the parallel program of the 1st Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Fine Art Gallery. Moscow, Russia 2004 — ArtKlyazma, Moscow region, Russia 2003 — ArtKlyazma, Moscow region, Russia 1996 — Exhibition in defense of the Art Center Pushkinskaya 10 as part of the IV Biennale of St. Petersburg, Anna Akhmatova Literary and Memorial Museum, Fountain House (Saint Petersburg). Saint-Petersburg, Russia
Personal exhibitions
2020 — “Air”, Space U. Moscow, Russia Artist's website 2020 — “Today is the past Tomorrow”, State Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Tatarstan. Kazan, Russia Exhibition , Museum, Realnoevremya, Forsmi, Afisha, Tatar-inform,Rambler, ArtTube. 2019 — “Swan and Odette” (with Eva Shorina), New Museum. Saint-Petersburg, Russia New Museum, ArtTube. 2019 — “Forest Stories”, Ural Vision Gallery. Yekaterinburg, Russia Ural Vision Gallery, ArtTube, Globalcity, Afisha. 2018 — “Scarlet”, A. Kasteyev State Museum of Arts. Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan Museum news, Arhiv, Rusevr.asia, City Style Life, Evrazia-Ural, Sxodim. 2018 — “Under the Eternal Sky”, Ural Vision Gallery. Budapest, Hungary Ural Vision Gallery 2018 — “Apology of Delusions”, Fine Art Gallery. Moscow, Russia Winzavod, ArtGuide. 2015 — “2 I’s”, Fine Art Gallery. Moscow, Russia Gallery Fine Art 2015 — “Analogue of the Deity”, Erarta. Saint-Petersburg, Russia Erarta, KudaGo. 2014 — “Over” (with Vladimir Korolyuk), Savina Gallery. St. Petersburg, Russia 2014 — “Swan fidelity”, Fine Art Gallery. Moscow, Russia 2013 — “Personal Space”, Fine Art Gallery. Moscow, Russia 2013 — “I believe in Angels”, Erarta Gallery. London, UK 2013 — “I believe in Angels”, Erarta Gallery. New York, USA 2013 — “I believe in Angels”, Erarta Gallery. Zurich, Switzerland 2012 — “We are (not) alone”, Erarta. Saint Petersburg, Russia 2011 — “Flowers and Planes”, Fine Art Gallery. Moscow, Russia 2011 — Zurab Tsereteli’s Art Gallery. Moscow, Russia 2011 — “Holidays”, Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Moscow, Russia 2010 — “Joys of Life”, Fine Art Gallery. Moscow 2010 — “Airfield” (with Sergei Shnurov), AL Gallery. Saint-Petersburg, Russia 2009 — “La rose des vents”, Galerie Stanislas Bourgain. Paris, France 2009 — “Bird’s Market” (with Dmitry Provotorov), AL Gallery. Saint-Petersburg, Russia 2009 — “Desktop: War and Peace”. Exhibition within the parallel program of the III Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Fine Art Gallery. Moscow, Russia