Ian Gonczarow

Ian Gonczarow

Ian Gonczarow was chosen as our Jealous Graduate Print Prize winner from the MA Fine Art degree at Goldsmiths 2009. Tanks, (20 Colour Screenprint with Varnishes) made for the prize is now a permanent part of the Victoria and Albert Museum collection. Ian now lives and works in London after spending 3 years in Moscow. Ian teaches painting part time on the Fine Art BA at University of Kent. Ian’s practice includes the extensive collecting of toys, bric a brac, graphic design from advertising and overheard conversations. These elements are brought together as opposites, in paintings that plunder the traditions, styles and genres of the last 100 years of the tradition. 'Ian Gonczarow works in the traditional artworld genre of painting, yet he forces the paint into images of cultural and political dissent. The heraldic insignia of world power politics - the Stars and Stripes, heroic soviet statuary, all cack-handedly reproduced with meticulous care - are filtered through the blatant bad taste aesthetics of Manga comics and bucket shop kitsch...The paintwork is smeared and slurred. In one image the trademark abstract expressionist drips head heavenward. There is an aura of manic hallucinatory glee in the defacement of establishment imagery.' Robert Clark 2009 Ian’s Jealous Prize print edition is now held in the Victoria & Albert Museum Permanent Print Collection.