Sergey Balovin

Biography

Sergey Balovin grew up in Voronezh, in western Russia in a family of geologists and studied fine art from a very young age. In 1996 he graduated from Fine Art School and in 2005 graduated from Art Faculty of the Voronezh State Pedagogical University. At 17 years old he went on teaching art at Studio I, school of Architecture and Design. Four years later, he began working at the Pedagogical University, teaching painting and organising group exhibitions featuring young artists from Voronezh. His class soon began a creative and associative meeting point for students. Due to clear limitations in Russian academic education, and being greatly inspired by French, German, and Belgian artists encountered, he taught himself contemporary art.

From 2008 to 2010 he curated the "Petit" project with Louise Morin in which they featured several dozen artists from Europe, Asia and America. The project participants reflected on the topic of "mobility" and created artworks around this theme. More than a hundred pieces were placed in a single suitcase, enabling the curators to cross country borders and represent this "contraband art". The project united some dozens of artists form Russia, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Poland, China, USA, Brazil and was presented in France, Germany, Russia and China, including Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, Red Gate Residency in Beijing and Art Labor Gallery in Shanghai.

In 2009 Sergey Balovin was invited to Jinan, China, to open his solo show. About a hundred paintings reflecting Chinese stereotype views of Russian contemporary art. Series deliberately beautiful landscapes with golden frames was a parody of 19th century Russian painting. The artworks were successfully sold in a few days and the artist decided to move to China for improve his financial well-being. But he soon realized he was becoming more focused on consumer demand than his own art vision. He decided to cease sales and, to prevent himself from repeating past mistakes, he performed «Euthanasia», a radical act, destroying his entire oil landscape exhibition, which had been painted according to consumer taste, with a bulldozer (allusion to the Bulldozer Exhibition). The «Euthanasia» project was represented in IFA Gallery.

In 2010, refusing to put price on his artworks, he launched "In Kind Exchange" where he drew portraits and exchanged them for currency free presents. In 2011 his "In Kind Exchange" project was selected for Sergey Kuryokhin Modern Art Award and in 2012 the artist was in residence at Swatch Art Peace Hotel. The project got amazing feedback in social media and he soon began to receive invitations from all over the world from people who wanted their portraits done. In 2013 finally ready, he started his Money Free World Trip, painting for food, lodging and transportation. The journey ensuing lasted 17 months and covered 36 countries and created over 5,000 portraits and got the same amount of gifts in return.

Since 2015 he is been working with Claudia Beccato. They met on Sergey Balovin's "In Kind Exchange" tour in Europe. In the summer of 2016 they got married at Dukley European Art Community in Kotor, during their art residency program. They celebrated their money-free wedding, opening the exhibition "The Wedding [as it should be]." The artists represented with collage on canvas all the elements of a classical wedding, without possessing anything and spending any penny.

Press

1. "Воронежский художник Сергей Баловин борется с капитализмом", TV Kultura, 6 July 2011
2. "Натуральный обмен. Проект художника Сергея Баловина", Museums News of Saint Petersburg, 13 August 2011
3. "Один день из жизни в „нехорошей квартирке“", XXL, 22 March 2012
4. Сергей Баловин. Интервью, Россия 24 News, 17 April 2012
5. "Портрет в обмен на сок, пирог, печенья и сканворд", 48.RU, 25 April 2012
6. "Putting the art in barter", Global Times, Shanghai, 5 June 2012
7. "Euthanasia", IFA Gallery, Shanghai, 30 June 2012
8. "Schneider Ammann beendet Mission mit Farbtupfer", Swissinfo, 13 July 2012
9. "Ipak se od umjetnosti živjeti može!", Ziher, 27 March 2013
10. "Piktori shëtitës, portret në këmbim të një dhurate", MAPO, 8 April 2013
11. "«Утро»: художник Сергей Баловин", Moscow 24, 4 March 2013
12. "Портрет без монет. Воронежский художник путешествует без денег", AIF, 27 3 July 2013
13. "Украинские СМИ назвали известного воронежского художника бомжом", Моё, 15 February 2013
14. "Sergey Balovin’s ‘In Kind Exchange’: Russian Portrait Artist Lives... ", The Huffington Post 26 March 2013
15. "Russian Artist Sergey Balovin and the In-Kind Exchange Project: How He Lives Without Money", YAHOO!, 28 March 2013
16. "Сергей Баловин: Художник не должен голодать", Arterritory, 2 August 2013
17. "Of Bulldozers and Nail Houses", P.I.G. China, 7 December 2012
18. "Painting portraits to sustain a lifestyle with no money", Visual News, 25 March 2013
19. "Get the picture", South China Morning Post, 27 June 2013
20. "Russian Artist Living on No Income", The Echo, 15 April 2013
21. "Artista demuestra que es posible vivir y viajar sin dinero", Mariana Tiquet, Mexico, 18 July 2014
22. "Sergey Balovin, the artist who’s travelling the world without money", Mumbai DNA, 29 June 2014
23. "Feed the artist and get your portrait made.", Contemporary Food Lab, 2015
24. "Вокруг света без денег: Художник путешествует по миру за портреты", Тут и там, 17 February 2016
25. "Обменный пункт, Псковская Губерния", Gubernia online, 11 July 2016
26. "Izložba i svadba: Neobičan projekat Sergeja Balovina u Kotoru", Crna Gora, 13 August 2016
27. "Сметана, творог и что-то исконно псковское", ПЛН, 29 June 2016
28. "Arte e coraggio di Sergey Balovin", My Personal Mind, 6 November 2016
29. "Sergej Balovin večeras predstavlja svoj rad sarajevskoj publici", Depo, 30 August 16
30. "Sergej Balovin gost sarajevske ‘Čarlame’", Federalna TV, Sarajevo, 28 August 2016
31. "Artisti (russi) di tutto il mondo, benvenuti in Montenegro", alfabeta2, 4 December 2016

Links

Balovin&Beccato website