Shekhovtsov’s work “Motorcyclist” was created in the shortest time for the Russian pavilion at the Venice Biennale. This story is associated with an unpleasant curiosity: the work should have been placed right on the façade of the Russian pavilion as a bas-relief. However, at the last minute for security reasons, it had to be moved to the sidewall of the building. Thus, the impression of the work has changed radically, as it moved from the spotlight to the periphery.

The sculpture represents a scene on the edge of the imaginary and the real: a motorcyclist is breaking through the wall, hovering in the air. The prototype for this story was the character of Dennis Hopper in the popular American 1960s movie "Easy Rider", who desperately looked for freedom, but never found it. As in his previous works, here Shekhovtsov blends popular culture and classical forms: the wall comes to life in a bas-relief, while the motorcyclist becomes an archetypal character of modern myths and legends, immortalized in foam rubber.

Olga Danilkina