Evgeny Antufiev

Evgeniy Antufiev was born in of Kyzyl. In 2009, he graduated from the Institute of Contemporary Art. He was the winner in the «Young Artist. Project of the Year» category of the 2009 Kandinsky Prize. He lives and works in Kyzyl and in Moscow. The last important project of the artist was show in Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia and Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow.

Seven Undergroud Kings or the Brief Story of the Shadow

Scythian sculptures, which Antufiev reproduces in wood and encrusts with amber, are unidentified objects suspended somewhere between art and ritual. The choice of amber is motivated by the stone’s rich history: whether in the ruins of antique polices, tombs of Egyptian pharaohs, Babylonian temples, Roman palaces — amber was an indisputable symbol of luxury, the object of religious cults, and the subject of cutthroat trade.
Just as ancient insects frozen in amber persisted beyond the time in which they actually lived, so the images with which the author works continue to exist outside their historical and temporal context. Few contemporary artists could allow themselves the modernist luxury of searching for and using materials that are so difficult to work with and expensive to purchase. And almost no one manages to create the panoply of unique textures Evgeny Antufiev includes in each new project.