Kon Trubkovich

My connection to video footage comes from the fact that I saw my old world fade away through the screen.
—Kon Trubkovich

Through reference to recent but already antiquated technology, Kon Trubkovich investigates the ways in which personal and collective memories routinely contradict one another, their inherent divergence complicating ideas of “truthful” documentation. Drawing on both recorded history and the story of his family’s 1990 emigration from the USSR to the United States, he marks the passage of time by emulating the visual distortion of degraded electronic media in paint.

Trubkovich was born in Moscow and is based in New York. He made his solo exhibition debut in 2006 with No Country for Old Men at MoMA PS1, New York, and has, since then, shown his work internationally at venues including the Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy; Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow; and Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. In 2007, he was included in USA: American Video Art at the Beginning of the 3rd Millennium at the 2nd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art.

Using a fine brush to render the distinctive grain of the broadcast image, Trubkovich reconstructs political and social events from their depiction on television. His palette connects different points in time, combining the vibrant hues of Byzantine icons with the jarring chromatics of the cathode ray image. While referring to Trubkovich’s childhood years, many of the artist’s works relate to recent instances of civil unrest in the United States. He has also alluded to narratives of Eastern European art that were suppressed or neglected under the Soviet regime.

In addition to his paintings, drawings, and sculptures, Trubkovich has made video installations that explore themes of autonomy and confinement. No Exit (2008) depicts naked prisoners marching in circles in the aftermath of a riot. In this and other works, he explores the parallel between the artist’s studio and other sites of restriction and rebellion.