Sanya Kantarovsky | Potato (2020)

Sanya Kantarovsky | Potato (2020)[[specs start]] Etching with Chine coll on Pescia Grey and Sekishu Kozogami Tsuru 39. 5 x 30. 5cm [15. 6 x 12 inches] Edition of 30, signed and numbered. [[specs end]] [[work start]] About the work Sanya Kantarovsky has created Potato, 2020, an etching in an edition of 30, especially for Whitechapel Gallery to accompany the exhibition Radical Figures; Painting in the New Millennium, 2 February 25 May 2020. Potato, 2020 pictures a man holding a small

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Etching with Chine-collé on Pescia Grey and Sekishu Kozogami Tsuru
39.5 x 30.5cm [15.6 x 12 inches]
Edition of 30, signed and numbered.

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About the work

Sanya Kantarovsky has created Potato, 2020, an etching in an edition of 30, especially for Whitechapel Gallery to accompany the exhibition Radical Figures; Painting in the New Millennium, 2 February – 25 May 2020. 

Potato, 2020 pictures a man holding a small dog - we assume ‘Potato’. The man, who looks sullen and drawn is typical of Kantarovsky’s subjects, who often appear dislocated from an existential narrative, reminiscent of Russian or European satirical illustrations or characters from literature. Kantarovsky however pits the abject against a dark humour and the pathos in the work is emphasised by the artist’s choice of colour and materials; the cross-hatched fine lines of the etching process and soft greys of the chine-collé and paper ground.

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About the artist

Sanya Kantarovsky (Born Moscow, Russia, 1982) Lives and works in New York. Kantarovsky studied at Rhode Island School of Design, Skowhegan Residency and the University of California. Kantarovsky spent his early childhood in Moscow during the final years of the Soviet Union, moving the US at age ten. Kantarovsky often draws on his memories of this time to create darkly humorous paintings, showing figures in caring, violent or uncomfortable relationships that don’t always invite sympathy.

Influenced by surrealist and expressionist artists such as Gauguin, Chagall and Matisse, his figurative paintings depict lean and ungainly characters in darkly humorous narratives. His work has an offbeat style influenced by Russian and Eastern European comic book illustrations and poster designs with satirical and melancholic sensibility.

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Selected exhibitions

Kantarovsky has recently presented solo exhibitions at Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland (2018) and The Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy (2017–18) and elsewhere. His work is represented in the collections of The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; Tate Modern, London; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York among others.

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Whitechapel Gallery editions are generously donated by the artists. All proceeds from the sale of these works directly support our exhibition and education programmes. As is traditional in editions publishing, prices will rise as an edition starts to sell out. 

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Last few

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