November 29, 2022

Press Release:

THINK + feel Contemporary is excited to present Yobobo World comics, -the latest works by Peter Dzogaba in the gallery’s inaugural VR + AR exhibition. After his successful exposition in Berlin over the summer, Dzogaba decided to offer his US audiences a new series of works, more specifically comics, featuring a colorful giant Yobobo - artist’s philosophical alter ego. Our excitement of being the gallery to showcase these works is justifiably singular as Peter’s one-eyed giant Yobobo entered the art world at our gallery during the Miami Art Week exactly six years ago.

Yobobo World comics series is a result of Dzogaba’s natural artistic evolution as he, a multi-disciplinary artist, dabbles in animation with the same pleasure with which he creates his vivid static tableaux. Since Yobobo’s inception, singular depictions of this green giant turned into painting series, the series grew into canvas story boards and those in their turn metamorphosed into comics.

The comics showcased at this exhibition are simpler in their format than their painted predecessors (all are digital prints) yet they are also more complex in terms of the ideas they deliver. The comics format allows the artist to deliver his deeply philosophical observation of the world, of our society in a quick and accessible way. Both are a necessity as the world has changed in a profound way since Yobobo came to life. Our life has accelerated immeasurably and has become more perplexing. We are inundated by information - fake and real, and sorting through it, making sense out of it -is a feat. As a result, Yobobo has had to grow up fast and in these comics the giant has definitely entered his adolescence - his single eye zero-focused and his expression more spirited.

Issues of media manipulation, psychological exploitation, ongoing world crises - whether health or military are of continuous interest to the artist and are all touched upon in the presented comics. Giant Yobobo helps us to navigate this new reality and to see the eponymous “big picture” more clearly.

Our gallery’s choice of a non-traditional venue is an extension of this new reality. It was our intention to spread Yobobo’s ideas around the world and this “democratization” can only be achieved in the online space. It was equally important for the artist to make his art affordable to the youngest of his admirers - a social group most likely to strive for implementing Yobobo’s ideas into life.

The exhibition became accessible online on November 28, 2022 and the in-person opening party will take place on Saturday December 3, 2022.

This virtual exhibition is on view through the middle of February 2023.

Please contact THINK+feel Contemporary for more information.

P: 305.204.7484 or silvia@thinkfeelart.com

YUBOBO THE GIANT SERIES 

As all Peter's work - though deceivingly simple and childlike,  this contemporary comics is brilliantly layered and complex. On the surface, it is a tale of the Giant Yubobo told from a perspective of a little boy.  Its simplicity -also typical of his Yubobo series- is meant to both disarm and intrigue the viewer, to elicit his inner child and delve into the story of a mysterious Cyclop (one-eyed giant).  Who is he, why did he come, where did he come from, what does he want?

As a whole, Yubobo series consists of several paintings, yet their order can be altered, some images can be omitted, others added when displayed- without changing the meaning or ultimate goal of the narrative Dzogaba attempts to convey.  The idea of this narrative “play” – amplification, addition and omission of narrative elements of the whole story (or “whole picture”)- was conceived to replicate tactics used by the current news media to manipulate our attitudes, our worldview when encountering new social phenomena. 

Peter’s images with his seemingly fairy tale like narrative hide a deft analysis of many current social problems faced by the European continent - including that of the migrant crisis. His approach both mimics and criticizes that of the current media. 

His “comics” tell a story of a giant Yubobo who shows up in a fictitious megalopolis squeezing through the city’s skyscrapers.  Overnight he becomes a media celebrity. One minute a Violet Lady gives him a funny moon, the next, the giant is trying to shield himself from the flashes of paparazzi’s cameras.   Among the journalists is a red-headed female whom Yubobo decides to let in on a secret… And the following morning she wakes up with a strange looking big artificial hand that makes her strong and capable of doing anything she wants and desires.

Yet the girl gets frightened and collapses mentally unable to deal with her new reality.  There are many more like her until one of the "strong arm" girls realizes she likes using it to stroke her hair; another girl uses it to fashion herself a companion robot.  Eventually, little by little, the inhabitants of the city get used to what’s happening and pretend that everything is just normal. 

The fear of the unknown is one of the primal human fears.  European consciousness is being directly confronted with such fears in the form of recent migrant crisis and resulting cultural clashes, which has come to dominate the news coverage.  It is as if a huge green giant in the downtown London or Berlin...

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Peter Dzogaba is a conceptual, visual and performance artist, animator and a media producer from Berlin, Germany. He also works for television and computer game industry.

Peter's oeuvre draws on the 20th c. Russian modernist tradition and reflects the edgy current social awareness so typical of the German millennial culture.  His images with seemingly fairy-tale-like narrative hide a deft analysis of the ongoing social crisis.

Fear of the unknown, emotionally underhanded tactics and messages media employs to manipulate- to exploit or pacify such fears,- as well as the consequences of such tactics are the issues Dzogaba explores in his series.