Triangle Gallery is pleased to announce a new solo exhibition by Valery Chtak (b.1981, lives and works in Moscow).

You see, Anton, texts written for exhibitions usually lean heavily on art criticism or its semblance. Ideally, this is exactly what we should do but for one thing: this would be extremely boring, especially when you don't have any sense of art criticism. A better solution in this case is a story.

A Story of a Black Rosary It's crucial that we call the main character S, which is funny because this is his true name, but nobody knows this and so everyone thinks we call him S just for fun. S never loved anyone. Never. Meaning people. Sure, this is almost impossible to imagine, as never loving anyone… No, really, this is too much. But I tell you again, S never loved anyone. Or at least he thought so. And then he saw a silly item which claimed that if you want to learn to love you must make a hundred-meter long black rosary. The text didn't explain how to do this, or what kind of rope to use, or anything. But it convincingly expounded on the usefulness of the process and the value of owning such a super-long rosary. S was duly impressed, but only at the meditative level. He was not eager to do or make anything. The item clearly aimed to inspire people, because an inspired individual is expected to change himself and to start changing the world around him. But the idea didn't translate. It didn't work. S didn't find his love. And he didn't make the rosary. He bought a rosary, or something that looked like it but actually was only a very long string of black beads. And so nothing changed in his soul. "Music," S thought next. "Yes, music will make all the difference. An opus based on the rosary principle." But writing music turned out to be even more difficult than making a rosary. S didn't know how to compose or play music. This phase passed quickly, too. Listening to and discussing music intelligently is not at all easy, because there is always someone who will provide a tired and clever criticism of your overenthusiastic remarks. There was always someone who thought that S's ideas are silly, at best. Modern art appeared in S's life as the answer to his spiritual quest. And it refused to disappear. The number of tired and clever criticisms has not decreased, but it turned out that you can easily disregard them. The rosary couldn't have come at a better time.

This text I publish as a press release for Valery Chtak new show…
Sincerely yours,
I. Malkin