Black as amnesia and pink as your first nail polish – thеse are two colors dominating in Alise Yoffe's exhibition space, "What's the Adress?". Substantively, the sequence of Yoffe's new works sounds as an anthem to nomadic sliding around the perimeter of contemporary social neuroses. The obscurity between artist's and visitor's interactions already starts to emerge from the show's title being formulated as a taxi driver's request – it doesn't require any specific answer. Infused with sympathy to all kinds of strangers, "What's the Adress?" actualises an image of a bohemian artist without a strong bond to any social circles, layers or electorates. Artistic enviroments are often based on geography chain games, personality-wise and artistic-wise. Bohemian characters' masks from different eras and countries are distributed between parties. And the main choice is usually made between the different eras of "isms" from Paris and Moscow and the memorable moments from non-stop carnival of mix of art, identity politics and fashion in New York in the 80's. While in recent exhibitions Yoffe could be seen supporting the message of rioting students in Paris 1968, "What's the Address?" clearly represents a symbolic crossover to New York aestethics and shows a transition from two-dimensional graffiti space to three-dimensional sculpturality of the loft. Or maybe to the practices of Andy Warhol's "Factory", a place where painting, sculpture and cinema were produced simultaneously.


The figures of the nomad and the artist are marked by financial uncertainty in contemporary urban econimics. It's hard to hold down a single job for a migrant, as his mobility and lack of social rights are benefitial for an employer. An artist is capable of depicting or staging literally anything, but his content cannot be transformed at once into goods or benefits. There are a few strategies available in such an unstable position. For instance, conceptual criticism of social formations at the junction of academism and science fiction. Or the monetisation of style through seeking close contact with brands and customers. Having tried both of these strategies, in "What's the Address?" Yoffe chooses another option. She reframes cars, restaurants and brands as artistic gestures by placing them into different kind of semiotics: things are not a status indicator but ritualistic idols from the evergreen cults of speed and beauty. Or the effervescent headache pills from headache caused by lack of impressions. The exhibition is counting the ways of quick change of context and concentrates mostly on fashion and fast cars. Everything starts with an image of black BMW depicting Yoffe on the driver seat and ends up with — if one follows the author's route of the show – with another BMW with Yoffe on the passenger seat instead. Unlike famous blockbuster films with five-letter titles ("Speed", "Crash", "Drive"), Yoffe can afford to step away from excessive sentimentality in depicting an image of the most important status symbol. Heroine of "Speed" didn't go far from Pacman, she just swallows up miles instead of pixel dots. The car is nothing but a loyal dog for the protagonist of "Drive". Only David Cronenberg in "Crash" managed to realistically represent our indecent relations with cars and technology as such. Due to the power of imagination, technology can transform into a living fetish on an equal footing with us. This is how it turns out to be in Yoffe's works, where drivers, passengers and vehicle interiors are twisted into single inseparable rhythm, external to any possible composition elements. Being almost a sculptural object on aluminium truss stretch shape for a display, it depicts a deformed face and, according to the artist's idea, expands her practice into volume and texture, while reminding of Cronenberg's "Crash" and The Mouth of Truth in Rome.

But the affect of speed is not the only thing that amuses the painter. Reviving the bohemian posture, she engages in an indirect dialogue with bohemian's history as a community. On a painting in a separate room Yoffe depicts the interior of "5642 Vysota", a restaurant in Moscow. Painting of a Jacques Callot engraving from his Gypsy series is the crucial element of the restaurant's design. This engraving was supposedly created between 1621 and 1631. As the legend has it, Callot escaped with Gypsy camp to Italy when he was twelve. In 19th century Paris the Romani were called "bohemians" and associated with Bohemia (modern Czech region). On the rise of bourgeousie, when artists and painters were settling down in poor neighbourhoods, populated mostly by gypsies, the word "bohemian" changed connotation and from now on denoted the artistic circle thanks to an involuntary cultural appropriation.

Perhaps, the guilt from that distant gentrification is the main reason why we see contemporary artists identifying themselves with nomads and immigrants so strongly. An artist devours poverty as a silkworm and produces valuable meters and meters of canvas.The painting of a pink carpet on a gallery floor continues the sphere of geografical associations with migrants and nomads alike. This picture is based on The Vorderasiatisches Museum's carpet collection, where Yoffe replicated a Turkish rug sample from 16th century . And yet another nomadic marker hangs from the ceiling – it's a bundle made not from clothes and blankets, but from canvas, so that it represents the artist's archive. However, all those paintings in a bundle are new and based on sketches of Egyptian and Italian artworks in Berlin and Florence (it's appropriate to mention that the origin of gypsies was once considered to be egyptian, way before the public opinion tied them to Bohemia). Finally disconnected from ethnical and geographical context, the boheme became a social layer in the end of the 19th century and spread with post-impressionism in Europe. It ressurects again and again in communities where citizens are virtuosic in their hypocrisy to succeed and blackball "useless" classes (losers, painters, the list goes on) to keep them out of the winning equation. The task of the boheme is to take a stand against predictability of success and vouch for constant energy exchange between art and life. That is the attitude Yoffe's takes toward every single one of her projects. And "What's the Adress?" with its sculptural qualities embodies her attitude to the fullest.