“Neither by ship nor on foot would you find the marvellous road to the assembly of the Hyperboreans [...]” – Pindar (518-438 BC)

Nichola Koshkosh is proud to present his first fully online solo exhibition - HYPERBOREA - accessible via Instagram augmented reality filters, showing the installation of 15 new paintings, most of them created during the Covid lockdown in Moscow, and spread within three different augmented reality rooms, pioneering the Instagram AR exhibition format.

Hyperborea was an imaginary land far in time and space, known since the ancient times of the classical Greek poet Pindar: a land symbolizing the idea of a perfect place where the winds of the North were not blowing, and its people were a blessed, long-lived race untouched by war and the ravages of old age or disease. During the lockdown, Koshkosh found himself confined within the limited space of his studio, deprived of freedom and surrounded by a gloomy atmosphere outside: it was then that he got fascinated with the legendary tales of Hyperborea, giving to his fantasy a fascinating escape from the suffocating reality of the present.

The compositions in Koshkosh’s paintings are conveyed entirely through the placement of figures and the elements of his hidden vocabulary - such as crosses, smileys, birds, spiders, snakes and stars - in the changing, thick and dynamic surface of paint. While painting, Koshkosh combines his love for tattoo and graffiti together with the knowledge coming from his studies at the Evangel Theological Seminary - Biblical Institute, and he often layouts his thoughts in text, providing a verbal connection to the works, yet freeing him from the urge to involve language directly in the process of explaining his artworks. Eventually, Koshkosh’s palette is coming with a surprising range of night-dark greys and greens, unclean whites, and artificially-sweetened pinkish and purplish blues, with hints of acid sprayed yellows and greens: ”Colors immerse you, and that immersion is what I want now. Color is everything, if properly talked about” says Koshkosh.

Throughout the show’s different augmented rooms, the visitors are invited to discover the paintings browsing the space - a mix of augmented reality architecture and features put in dialogue with the real world surrounding them – and participating in the show by taking snapshots of their favourite artworks, therefore creating a unique and ever changing virtual exhibition, taking place under the hashtag #koshkoshhyperborea

Visit the exhibition using the augmented reality effects available on Instagram @nicholakoshkosh, which you can see directly from his profile by clicking on the smiley face icon.

”Abstract yet simple, his paintings are distinct in their unruliness - Orthodox imagery blurs with cartoons of his friends boxing, agricultural equipment and The North Face. They look like the result of Ivan Aivazovsky and Robert Rauschenberg, as commissioned by the ATL Twins.” — Art of War, Office magazine, September 2018.

Please join the conversation and share your thoughts on Instagram @nicholakoshkosh via the hashtag #koshkoshhyperborea | For further information please contact Artur Semenov: artur.semenov@gmail.com or Instagram @art_roam

Nichola Koshkosh (b.1995 in Mariupol, Ukraine) lives and works in Moscow. He is a multimedia artist who has quickly become one of the most visible faces of the ‘modern Russia’- arguably one of Russia’s best kept secrets - bridging with easiness between not only East and West, but also Then and Now. Koshkosh isn’t just a painter and his practice spans a variety of media (graffiti, contemporary tattooing, publishing and photography) together with the knowledge coming from his studies at the Evangel Theological Seminary - Biblical Institute. He’s a bridge builder between different categories. His works have been published by Vogue Russia, L’Officiel Russia, Office Magazine (US), La Repubblica (IT), TTTism magazine (UK), Brask Studio Visits (DK), KALTBLUT Magazine (DE), INRUSSIA (RU), The Calvert Journal (UK). Koshkosh has exhibited in Moscow and Copenhagen, and his latest show - HYPERBOREA -  is a virtual exhibition accessible via Instagram Augmented Reality filters, pioneering this exhibition format.  

ONEROOM is a little cosy place totally devoted to contemporary photography located in Piazza dei Satiri 55, just in the heart of Rome. Half a bookstore, half a library, with a bit of a gallery and a studio, their aim is to promote knowledge through and about the so-called “photobooks”. The selection of new, uncommon and rare books span between masterpieces since the sixties to new self-published hidden gems yet to discover, from all over the world. Not only a boutique for collectors, but a place where to get inspired and feel how the world looks like as seen by someone else.