WAR AND PEACE

April 22nd – May 22nd, 2022

Curated by Maria Petrovskaya, Zak Vreeland, Jason Clay Lewis, Amelia Biewald

The Royal @ RSOAA is pleased to present WAR AND PEACE, a group exhibition curated by Maria Petrovskaya, Zak Vreeland, Jason Clay Lewis, Amelia Biewald featuring artists Jeremiah Jossim, Batoul Ballout, Vanessa Spollen, Yulia Gasio, Frank Olt, Elena Chestnykh, Haley Hughes, Dasha Bazanova, Dave Alexander, Denise Sfraga, Helmut Richard Reinelt, Jamie Louis Holman, Anatolii Kazymyrchuk, Brian McCormack, Eric Araujo, and Svetlana Kalashnikova.

War and Peace is a novel by Leo Tolstoy that gave its title to the Open Call. Tolstoy’s War and Peace describes the tragic Napoleon invasion in 1812 in Russia and focuses both on peaceful city life and fierce resistance to military aggression. This duality of the book is present in the current times, with many in the world peacefully enjoying life, while Ukraine – the largest country in Europe – is engulfed in war and eastern Europe in a refugee crisis. The stakes are high: the global order shake-up and the real possibility of WW3 being on our doorsteps. The last global pandemic of 1918 came with WWI, so it’s not surprising that a Covid pandemic would usher the new war in a package.

This open call invites artists that explore the ideas of pain, death, loss, relocation, and fragility of life, but also works that celebrate life and regeneration after the disaster. A percentage of the Open Call fees and Sales will go to support the humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.