Ala Leresteux. Triptych «I dare you», Vol.1. 2012. Mixed media. 175,7x88cm. Courtesy Ishimoto Kenji Ala Leresteux. The Face for today. 2013. Courtesy artist Ala Leresteux. Unsteady Balance. 2011.

The Moscow Museum of Modern Art presents “I dare you!”, an exhibition project by Ala Leresteux. The exhibition comprises a total installation meant to demonstrate how something extraordinary and frightening can become part of one’s day-to-day experience. The spectator is invited to revise his system of values by experiencing deep-rooted, archetypical fears caused by the simulation of an emotional discomfort. The French-Lithuanian artist is looking into the borderline phenomenon as she explores the subject of entropy and claims that any system is virtually an imaginary construct devised for holding primordial fear in check. 

The exhibition consists of three spaces. Each of them is intended to portray a particular experience of perception. Chaos is stage one, it is the beginning of a transient moment, a time when internal conflict breaks out. The second space signifies a transition point when one meets with oneself. At this point the spectator is invited to decide what he is personally ready to accept and what he should leave behind. The last space is a symbol of assimilation of one’s gained experience, the state in which an originally frightening element has become part of the something considered ordinary and common. The graphic works displayed at the exhibition are the results of a philosophical research conducted by the artist in an effort to find the line separating the organic from the nonorganic, the line going between the beast, human and superhuman, the division line between dream and reality. The artist examines the transition phenomenon. She claims that art can be a link for uniting the opposites. 

Ala Leresteux is a painter, a graphic artist and a member of the Moscow Union of Designers. Leresteux graduated from Paris Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, 
majoring in drawing. She studied at the Lithography Course under Paris Mayor’s Office. Leresteux also graduated from the Department of Philosophy of the Moscow State University. Ala Leresteux’s selected solo projects include: the International Art Salon (Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia, 2014); Florence Biennale IX - Fortezza da Basso (Florence, Italy, 2013); "La Pigna" Gallery - Palazzo Maffei Marescotti (Vatican, Vatican, 2013); Love²Art gallery with “Stella Art International” (Antwerp, Belgium, 2013); Salon Art en Capital – Grand Palais (Paris, France, 2012); Not the Royal Academy - Gallery Llewellyn Alexander (London, UK, 2012); Miroiterie (Paris, France, 2011); Deviant’Art Group “Thing’s Not seen” contest “Draw your favorite song” – Deviant’Art website. Online group exhibition. Awarded 2nd prize.