May 19 to July 2, 2006
MKM Museum Küppersmühle for Modern Art

The MKM presents the exhibition “New Empire” by Russian artist Maxim Kantor. On display are around 30 paintings and 140 prints from the years 2002 to 2004. The show at the MKM marks the end of a successful exhibition tour with stops in Osnabrück (Felix-Nussbaum-Haus), Venice (Fondazione Querini Stampalia), Belfast (Ulster Museum), Luxembourg (Centre Culturel de Rencontre, Abbaye de Neumunster) and Berlin (Akademie der Künste).

Born in Moscow in 1957, the artist is an attentive observer who traces political developments – particularly in his own country – with critical concern. Power and the abuse of power are dominant themes in his works.

Maxim Kantor shows the world in vivid images, he does not gloss over anything in his depiction of the ruinous and wretchedness of everyday life. Man is isolated, even when he appears as a mass. The individual is defenceless in the dense web of power, in which the strings are pulled as in a puppet show. Kantor’s picture Structures of Democracy is exemplary: in a clearly defined and seemingly immovable hierarchy, the person at the top whispers his truth to the person at the bottom until the whispering falls silent at the end of the chain and fades into silent acquiescence and resignation.