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Playground of the Autocrats
December 10, 2020 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Playground of the Autocrats: Zoom Conversation with Artist Anne Bobroff-Hajal
Thursday, December 10, 2020, 5:30 – 6:30 pm
Join us for our first creator conversation with painter and historian Anne Bobroff-Hajal, whose show, Playground of the Autocrats, is on view at the Museum of Russian Icons untill January 24.
Anne Bobroff-Hajal draws from the visual languages of iconography and graphic art to create large-scale paintings that feature satirical commentaries on Russian socio-political history. On view at the Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton, MA through January 24, 2021, Playground of the Autocrats presents stunningly complex triptychs and polyptychs that represent a secular art tradition directly influenced by orthodox iconography, animation, political cartoons and graphic novels–all of which tell stories in pictures and words. Video visit of the show >.
Our event offers the opportunity to hear the artist speak about her unique creative process and converse with her about the images and ideas that informed the works. The Zoom call, moderated by BRAI Executive Director, Anna Winestein, will begin with a brief presentation by Anne Bobroff-Hajal, and feature mostly interactive discussion allowing participants to engage the artist and each other. Registration is FREE, but required. Sign up here >
The Zoom link will be emailed through Eventbrite to registered attendees 24 hours and 2 hours before the start time of 5:30 pm. Additionally, all registered attendees will receive the link for a special video recorded just for BRAI, featuring Anne explaining the conception and execution of one an in-progress polyptych. Sign up at autocrats.eventbrite.com
Anne Bobroff-Hajal has drawn on animation techniques, icons, and formats such as graphic novels to tell stories of Russian geography and history from Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great to Stalin and Putin. Satirical commentaries on how Russia’s ruling elites have historically taken advantage of their unique geographic situation to amass and maintain power, she means for her art to honor and serve the dispossessed and forgotten.
Says Bobroff-Hajal of her work, “My extensively researched satirical polyptychs about Russia…revel in the crazy-quilt intersection of art with academic history and geography.”
A resident of Westchester, NY, Bobroff-Hajal has a Ph.D. in Russian history and is the author of the scholarly volume Working Women in Russia Under the Hunger Tsars. Her artwork has been widely exhibited and is held in private collections internationally. Most recently, Columbia University’s Harriman Institute for Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies had a solo exhibit of her art about Russia titled “Peasants, Clans, and Effervescent Absolutists!”
Sign up for FREE to join the conversation with Anne at autocrats.eventbrite.com