Rimma ARSLANOV | Deceiving players

In Rimma Arslanov's dream-like visual worlds, the boundaries between image, sculpture, architecture and applied art cancel each other out. The perception of convention and innovation is called into question. Influences from Oriental, Muslim and Soviet culture are integrated into the artist's contemporary way of working and therefore united to form new worlds. (quoted after Julia Reich, 2022) Rimma Arslanov, born 1978 in Tajikistan, lives and works in Düsseldorf. Arslanov completed her studies in applied arts and crafts in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. She is winner of the KHM (Academy of Media Arts Cologne) - Promotion Award for Women Artists 2022. In her first solo exhibition in Vienna, the artist shows the series "Curtains and Wounds". In this body of works, Rimma Arslanov depicts everyday objects such as curtains or wooden furniture, which merge with elements from a seemingly surreal, alienated, different world - a world of weapons, wounds and injuries. The fragile curtains in a colour palette that references human skin are covered with tears and wounds. Small fantastical interventions contrast the lovely and linear character of her works. Consequently, a "tender" brutality is expressed in the stage-like sceneries.
 The central object in the space of KOENIG2 by_robbygreif is the work "Black Mountains", consisting of three wooden boxes. These function as a paravent that invites the viewer to explore the space. At the same time, a painted curtain opens on the wooden boxes and gives the observer a view of a dystopian dreamscape. An installative wooden cuboid furniture continues the correspondence to the paintings and objects on the sculptural level. In Rimma Arslanov's works, dreamlike visual worlds are created from landscape, sculptural and ornamental elements. The contrasting points of beauty and brutality, concealment and unveiling are played with, thus opening up a suspenseful dialogue. (Lilli Kainberger, 2023)