by Kim Berg
Why international artists are attracted to Germany and how they live and work there. We profile two prominent artists:
Alexei Kostroma, German-Russian artist.
Alexei Kostroma was born in the Russian city of Kostroma in 1962. As an artist, however, he was attracted to Germany in 2003. “The country gives me opportunities for self-realisation and for integration into the global artistic process,” says Kostroma. The artist is regarded as the inventor of the so-called “organic way”. He explains that its “central concept is a study of interrelations between natural and social laws”. In his works of art Kostroma reflects the interrelationship between humankind and nature. In the process he focuses on problems of human existence that have remained relevant even after many years. “During the global financial crisis, in 2009, under the burden of debts I began a series of BILLS & DEBTS; my canvasses were covered in long columns of unpaid bills,” says Kostroma. Among other places, his social-critical paintings and installations have been displayed in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow and the Saatchi Gallery in London.
In 2009 he opened Studio Kostroma in Berlin, where he has also been able to continue working during the pandemic. “Thanks to the Federal Government’s emergency assistance programme for artists we have been able to carry on the projects we had started.”
https://www.deutschland.de/en/topic/culture/international-artists-in-germany-two-voices