Ivan Plusch

Ivan Plusch (born in 1981) is a young artist from the rising Russian scene, part of the Nepokorennie group (“The Unconquered”) based in St. Petersburg. He studied in various art schools, such as the State Academy of Art and Design, the Roerich Art School and the PRO ARTE Institute. Ivan Plusch is part of a generation of artists who were still children at the time of the fall of the USSR; consequently, he was marked by these sudden sociological and economic changes in the early 90s. His work bears the marks of these changes, from dearly regained freedom of speech to the people and their relationship with society, whether it is of alienation or of liberation. However, Plusch’s work goes further than mere sociological observation. He reinterprets the art history and tackles the norms of social realism–in particular those of monumental sculpture—and integrates them into his paintings. Comfortable with all mediums, working with sculpture as well as painting, Ivan Plusch is a diverse artist delivering work that fits thoughtfully within Post-Soviet art. Playing with the image of a happy future but from elements of the former communist regime, Plusch questions, the relationship between man and his environment.