Mikhail Sedov, Ryssland
Urgent, News
1.5 x 5 meters, acrylic on canvas
First presented at the LeDocEnScene festival in Montreuil, France, on March 23, 2024.
Since the beginning of the war, I have been consuming the news like a mute witness to the catastrophe, functioning like a retina. My day begins with the ticker of a well-known news source, with a black bar and red and yellow reflections. My day ends by watching this ticker.
If art is capable of creating modalities aimed at cognitive justice, I do not have the possibility of finding such a modality and the capacity to be a citizen. That is why I am taking the first step, by fixing the witness’s position in its maximal consumption. I chose painting as an attempt to slow down, to try to find another space-time for the news. Of course, this attempt was doomed to failure. Even the speed of the canvas’s creation reached indecent values, and for contemporary painting, you can still see wet spots here. I am finishing this text after the opening of the exhibition and I must admit to being astonished by the unusual speed of thought and the images and names that come back to my memory in an attempt to understand my experience.
One of these memories was the name of the exhibition in Paris URGENT PAINTING in 2002, in a new attempt to bring painting back to the news agenda. It was around that time that I began my path in painting and I have never been able to choose anything else, just as I cannot choose other news. Despite the absurdity of reflection through matter and form, I continue compulsively to choose color.
Mikhail Sedov is a visual artist from Moscow, currently living and working in Paris. With a background in sociology and political science, his work reflects a blend of intellectual exploration and artistic expression. Since 2007, he has also been involved in independent theater projects, which have significantly influenced his artistic practice. The dynamics of performance have shaped his paintings, making process and movement central to his work. Each piece carries a sense of immediacy, where there is always an interplay between figure and background, and a constant presence of process. Sedov’s paintings explore themes of identity and memory, with a particular focus on the psychological aspects of human experience. His craft-based approach strives to balance conceptual depth with the physicality of painting, allowing for both improvisation and careful deliberation in his practice.
Artist Statement
Through my work, I explore the relationship between the self and external realities, using painting as a means to engage with subconscious processes. My practice is centered on the tension between individual experience and collective memory, seeking to address the emotional and psychological dimensions of these themes. I am particularly interested in how the act of painting itself—through layers of paint—can reflect time, effort, and the internal dynamics we experience. The influence of performance art is present in my work, where the dynamic between figure and background, as well as the process itself, plays a key role. Each brushstroke is a part of a larger, evolving conversation, where both planned and spontaneous moments contribute to the work’s form. For me, the process of making is as significant as the final piece, with each layer contributing to a narrative that speaks of human experience and transformation.
https://sedov.fr
sv.misha@gmail.com
