Be among the first to view TMORA’s newest exhibitions before they are open to the public.

Open viewing 7:00 – 9:00 PM. Remarks by the Executive Director Mark J. Meister, Curator Dr. Masha Zavialova, and Artist Elena Kalman will take place at 7:45 PM in the Main Gallery.

Tickets: Free admission for TMORA Members. Click to join.

$14 General Admission | $12 Senior Admission (65+) | Student & Active Military $5 | Children 0-13 FREE

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TMORA Shop will be open throughout the evening. There will be a cash bar available.

About the Exhibitions:

Premonition of a Russian Dystopia

This exhibition focuses on artist Geli Korzhev’s portrayals of strange and disturbing creatures who embody his prophetic vision of Russia’s dystopian future, foretold thirty years ago. The Tiurliki (Mutant) series was painted in the late 1980s – early 1990s, during the unstable and uncertain time of the fall of the Soviet Union. This series was never quite understood by his contemporaries, who blamed the artist for being retrograde, resistant to change, and pro-Communist. These uncanny works manifest their latent content only today, when a militarized Russia is mutating into a despotic repressive regime, a society in the hands of a corrupt and very powerful few.

The series was begun in the mid-1980s, as a fantasy sequence for the artist’s grandson, eventually morphing into a unique political statement. Korzhev did not welcome the end of the Soviet Union. The artist explains, “The ‘Tiurlikis‘ did reflect many of the changes in our society that happened during and after perestroika. […] Our country is being occupied by spiritual enemies. Behind a civilized appearance, one can see a beast full of hate.”

Korzhev refused to accept awards from the government of post-Soviet Russia, explaining that accepting a state award would be hypocritical because the new social order contradicted his principles.

The exhibition also includes Korzhev’s earlier works and paintings by other important artists of the Soviet era including Igor Popov, Alexei Gritsai, and others.

Premonition of a Russian Dystopia will be on view in the Main Gallery March 4 – July 9, 2023.

Ukraine Defiant: Paintings by Elena Kalman

We are honored that Ukrainian-born artist Elena Kalman has chosen to premiere her newest series of paintings, Ukraine Defiant, at TMORA. Kalman created these works in support of the Ukrainian struggle against the aggressive assault of the Putin regime. These twelve eight-foot long works on paper memorialize twelve months of the war through striking imagery and masterful brushwork. Kalman began painting them on February 24, 2022, to follow in the steps of the courageous fight of the Ukrainian people to retain their country’s independence.

Elena Kalman is a painter and an architect, whose work has been exhibited in numerous museums and galleries throughout the United States. Kalman received her Master of Architecture degree from the Moscow Architecture Institute, the birthplace of Russian Constructivism, and her undergraduate degree in art from the Kyiv Art Institute. She immigrated to the United States in 1979.

Ukraine Defiant: Paintings by Elena Kalman will be on view in the Mezzanine Gallery March 4 – July 15, 2023.