GOBOTORU’s WORLD!
Gobotoru’s first exhibition in Asia introduces a neo-‐noir inspired visual sensitivity and a mysterious Nordic Attitude to Hong Kong. Skillfully printed on Aluminum, the 17 Works by the Estonian artist are paired juxtaposing elaborate, at times haunting portraits (including the artists self-‐portrait) with timeless, yet meaningful land-‐ and cityscapes; each frame representing the piece of a puzzle, which collectively allow a glimpse into the artist’s world.
The exhibition is on view at toof [ contemporary ] and will open on Saturday, February 7th at 6.30 pm and will be running through March 7th 2015.
The chosen metallic surface deepens the viewer’s experience; creating a 3 D effect through reflection and contrast and making the subjects almost come ‘alive’. Each piece is unique and produced only once worldwide (Edition of one).
Balancing close and far, Gobotoru takes the viewer on a personal journey, constantly alternating his point of view. The ueber-‐close framed portraits of Woman and Men often look deep into the viewer’s eyes, questioning our intentions and personify emotions, fantasies and memories we often don’t easily admit to have, while the wide-‐angled nature shots of snow-‐covered landscapes, naked trees or deserted streets, anchor the overall perspective, speak of solitude and soothingly calm the soul.
The artist confronts our comfort zone by holding up a mirror and depicting those moments of inner
conflict. Goborotu means ‘personal madness’ and is a Russian acronym inspired by the 90’s cult of
‘Fightclub’. Recalling the noir visuals, the artist intentionally revives the movie’s metaphor:
‘we need to push through the walls we put around ourselves to feel pain for the first time’, referencing the movie’s aim at a wake up call: we need to shake ourselves free from the muddy swamp of consumerism, which slowly and un-‐noticed pulls us down into it’s abyss of emptiness and shallowness.
Thus touching sore pressure points in a city like Hong Kong.
Gobotoru was born Anton Novozhilo in 1979 in Estonia and since the age of 7 has felt a special attraction towards the inner world. After his first successful exhibition the artist continues to work on his series named ‘people are strange’ and ‘HUMANIMALS’ adding to a expansive portfolio of meticulously staged portraits of people he meets along his path, which can be viewed at www.
500pix.com/gobotoru.
