MOSCOW.- Moscow Museum of Modern Art opens a solo show of Rena Tsuzmer — an artist who has managed to put a new spin on the antique art of ceramics. For over 40 years she has been fighting the stereotyped vision of ceramics as a craft, rather than art. Tsuzmer frees her works from their habitual functionality, supposing that they should bring beauty into the house.

The art of Rena Tsuzmer is small-scale and intimate, and it opposes academicism and pomposity. Out of intricate free flowing compositions, out of a fine web of lines, once turning into autumn tree ornaments, once into crisp cool air, the world of delicate dreamy poetry emerges. The art of Rene Tsuzmer asserts human nature in all artistic and cultural traditions, the value of the creators personality, who brings the joy of understanding the poetic beauty of life to people.

Rena Tsuzmers artistic program is based on a special kind of poetic philosophy. The artist brings together ceramics and painting, painting and sculpture, endowing her works with the capacity to evoke complex images. The works of the author (ceramics, paintings, drawings) are held in the collections of The Tretyakov Gallery, The State Russian Museum, The History Museum and many others. In December 2002 the artist was awarded the honorary title «Peoples Artist of The Russian Federation».

The exhibition at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art will feature about 30 large-scale works, including ceramics, drawings and paintings.

«We have long been friends with Rena Tsuzmer. Art has become the essence of her life. Her devotion, fine taste and inexhaustible imagination have made Rena Tsuzmer one of Russians most interesting decorative artists. She is a hard worker; her studio, located near Rechnoy Vokzal, is filled with excellent works.

Whether Rena Tsuzmer is shaping a decorative space, or paints ceramics, clay or chamotte faience, whether she writes poetry, creates oil paintings or graphic works — everywhere the versatile mastery, the depth of feeling and absolute artistic freedom become apparent. Her works are a blend of painting and decorative art. The shapes of her works and their dimensions are monumental as sculptures. Painted with light brush strokes, her art introduces us into the mysterious world of images and mesmerizes us with its lyricism, while the musical rhythms of fine drawing lend it special expressivity. The art of Rena Tsuzmer gives us joy, plunges us into thinking, tells us about the diversity of harmony in art, which includes — just like real life — consonances and contrasts».