Sergey Bratkov

Overview
Sergey Bratkov

Sergey Bratkov was born in 1960 in Kharkiv, Ukraine. In 1978 he graduated from The Kharkiv State School of Art; in 1983 – from The National Technical University of Kharkiv. In the 1970s, he got fascinated with photography and, in the 1980s, began experimenting, creating collages and objects. From 1988 to 1993, he was a part of the art group ‘Letter A’; he created the semi-figurative painting, participated in group exhibitions in Ukraine and Germany. In 1994­-1997 he was a member of the Fast Reaction Group. As a part of the collective, Bratkov worked with such authors of provocative performances, objects, and photo series, as Boris and Victoria Mikhailov and Sergiy Solonsky­.

 

Since 2000, he has been living in Moscow. His major mediums are photography, video, installation, painting, and performance. He also holds classes at the Rodchenko School of Multimedia and Photography and curates exhibitions.

 

Artworks by Bratkov raise questions of a broad sociocultural nature; they reflect the problems of society militarization, illiteracy, and adherence to the occult, they speak ironically about the pervasive consumerism and manipulative advertising.

 

The artist always maintains a balance between social orientation and the artistry of the idea: Bratkov never descends to current affairs. His artistic language is distinguished by paradox, visual power, and great poetry.

 

Bratkov is a participant of the Biennale in Sao Paulo (2002), Manifesta (2004), Venice Biennale (2003, 2007, 2011). He is an Innovation Prize winner in the main category Work of Visual Art (2009). The artworks by Bratkov were acquired by, among others, Multimedia Art Museum (Russia), Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (Belgium), Galician Centre of Contemporary Art (Spain), Fotomuseum Winterthur (Switzerland), as well as by private collections in Russia and abroad.

 

Works
Exhibitions
Exhibitions
Sergey Bratkov

Solo Exhibitions

2022

BEFORE/AFTER. OVCHARENKO. Moscow, Russia.

 

2021

Not About Jaws. LLIL Art Space. Rostov-on-Don, Russia.

 

2020

Iphone Pack. kh.l.a.m. Voronezh, Russia.

 

2018

We Are Not Here. Regina Gallery. Moscow. Russia.

  

Group exhibitions

2023

Temple Masterpieces, or Enjoy Your Bath! VLADEY. Moscow, Russia.

ZDRAVSTVUYTE! OVCHARENKO in cooperation with VLADEY. Moscow, Russia.

 

2021

The Judges: Who Are They? AZ Museum. Moscow, Russia.

Nominees of the Moscow Art Prize Exhibition. Media Centre of Zaryadye Park. Moscow, Russia.

Remember Yesterday. PinchukArtCentre. Kyiv, Ukraine. 

Summer Exhibition. Radio House. Saint Petersburg, Russia.

A Shadow of the Soul but Slightly Sharper. Multimedia Art Museum. Moscow, Russia.

 

2020

Things. Anna Nova Gallery. Saint Petersburg, Russia.

First-hand Art. A Collector’s View: Looking Back and Forward. OVCHARENKO. Moscow, Russia.

Steirischer herbst festival. Graz, Austria.

 

2019

The Destiny of Man. Session V: Human Teleology. Biography, Fate, Hope, Faith. Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Moscow, Russia.

Power over Yourself. Vladimir Smirnov and Konstantin Sorokin. Moscow, Russia.

Forbidden Image. PinchukArtCentre. Kiev, Ukraine.

Here and now. An atlas of Moscow Art Studios. Central Manege. Moscow, Russia.

 

2018

The Art of the 2000s. The State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow, Russia. 

 

Full exhibition list

Bibliography
Sergey Bratkov
2014
  • European Portrait Photography since 1990, edited by Frits Gierstberg, BOZARBOOKS, Prestel, 2014, p. 24-30
2008
  • Thomas Seelig, “Glory Days”, catalogue for the exhibition “Glory Days” at Fotomuseum Winterthur, 2008, p. 50-51
  • “The Picture Hunter”, a conversation with Sergey Bratkov, Anna Alchuk and Mikhail Ryklin, catalogue for the exhibition “Glory Days” at Fotomuseum Winterthur, 2008, p. 54-60
  • Boris Buden, “The World of Lost Innocence, or: Why isn’t Sergey Bratkov a Post-Communist?”, catalogue for the exhibition “Glory Days” at Fotomuseum Winterthur, 2008, p. 130-133
  • Bart de Baere, “On People and Appliances”, catalogue for the exhibition “Glory Days” at Fotomuseum Winterthur, 2008, p. 138-142
2007
  • Peter Doroshenko, “Serhiy Bratkov”, in the cat. “A poem about an inland sea” for the Ukrainian pavilion at 52 la biennale de Venezia, cat., edited by Pinchuk Art Center, 2007, p. 14-23
  • “Never too young”, in the cat. for the exhibition “Dangerous Beauty” at Chelsey Art Museum in collaboration with PAN, (Napoli), p.34-35
  • Katharine Welsch, “Serhiy Bratkov”, in the cat. for the exhibition “Reflection” at Pinchuk Art Center, cat. p.18-22
2005
  • Philippe Van Cauteren, SERGEY BRATKOV - THE RUSSIAN QUESTION FOR THE RUSSIAN ANSWER, Flash Art, no. 245 November/December
  • Manifesta 5, cat., p. 140, 232-234
  • De Baere, Bart “Contemporary Art in Belgium”, in the book by Bart de Baere&Henry Bounameaux, pp.74-77
  • Kuzma, Marta, On the Shoulders of Giants, in: Flash Art International, No.240
2004
  • Was will Europa?, Research by Francheska D.Shaw and Lavina Garulli, in: Flash Art International, No.237, p.98
  • Files, book published by Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Castilla y Leon, file No.21
  • Russian Art in 2004: Group portrait, in: Artchronika, No.1, pp.88-89
  • Dream (five years ago), in: GAGARIN, tenth edition, pp.4-5
  • Artists in the beginning of the century. Moscow Conceptual art 2000-2003., WAM, No.8/9,pp.186-191,250
  • Degot, Ekaterina “Newcomers to the society of spectacle”, in: Camera Austria, No.88, pp.28-32
  • Cotton, Charlotte, in the book “The photograph as contemporary art”, p.63
  • Curto, A., in: Juliet, No.119, pp.40-41
2003
  • Hohmeyer, Boris and Sommer, Tim “Berlin-Moscau, 1950-2000, in: Art, No.10, p.16
  • Misiano, Viktor, Focus Photography, in: Flash Art International, No. 233, p.85
  • Barabanov, Dmitry, Fisheye and the Bonds in Tondo, in: WAM, No.4, pp.113,121,125,132-136
2002
  • Curto, A., in: Juliet, No.108, pp.56&cover
  • Kuzma, Marta, In with the Mad Guard, in: Pocko No.9, pp.36-44
2001 
  • Knofel, Ulrike, “Tanzkurs auf dem Vulkan”, in: Der Spiegel, No.45, p.242
  • Tchmyreva, Irina, “Sergey Bratkov – Non-scandalous Disclosure”, in: Imago, No. 11, pp.34-41
1999 
  • Soloviov, Aleksander and Filonenko, Natalia, in: Flash Art International, No.225,p.109
1994
  •  Neumaier, Diane, Contemporary Russian Art Photography, in: Art Journal, Summer, p.19