I am Ilya Yod,
a media faceless
contemporary artist.
I started creating art in the early 2000s. As a young artist, I was looking for opportunities to share my work with people and found them on the Internet, a virtual space that had just begun to gain popularity. People had little understanding of what the Internet was and avoided giving information about themselves online. Social networks did not exist yet and most of the communication largely happened on forums and websites where I shared my traditional and digital drawings under the alias Ilya Yod.
I saw how the anonymous nature of the Internet had changed humanity. We became able to communicate directly without knowing our interlocutor and how he looks. No one cared if the nickname "Mountain003" is a 10-year-old or a 40-year-old man or woman, black or Asian, a bank owner or a cleaner. Erased social roles allowed us to be bolder and freer than ever before. We simply shared our thoughts, feelings, ideas, and creations with a sincerity that humanity has never known before.
This time has had a huge impact on me and it has taught me that anonymity promotes freedom of expression and thus enriches humanity. So, when the anonymous era of the Internet was replaced by the era of social networks, big money, and transparency, I chose to remain anonymous online. Moreover, when later I began exhibiting my work at art shows, I extended my online anonymity to all media and made Ilya Yod my artist’s identity. This means that I do not publish photos and videos of myself in the media, leaving viewers the opportunity to present me as they want or not to present me in any way.
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Selected Exhibitions:
2022 Hide and seek, Skolkovo Innovation Center, Moscow, Russia (Curated by Mikhail Lipovskikh, Curator, Moscow, Russia)
2021 Digital Legacy, Surface Art Lab gallery, Moscow, Russia (Curated by Arina Novak, Curator, New York, USA)
2020 Solo Exhibition, Kolomna 55.106915,38.757024, Artкommunalka. Erofeev and Others Museum, Kolomna, Russia
2020 Indigital, Boris Vian Library, Persan, France
2019 Sacred Art, Saint-Pierre Space, Senlis, France
2019 A Salon at Sugar Mountain, The Magenta Suite Art Space, Exeter, NH, United States
2018 Skurril, Marler Kunststern, Marl, Germany (Selected by the Essen’s Marler Art Star Cultural Affairs Committee)
2017 Mazipos, Visual Kontakt Gallery, Cluj-Napoca, Romania (Curated by Carlos Сarmonamedina, Curator, Periférne Centrá, Dubravica, Slovakia)
2015 200 Years of Diplomatic Relations between Russia and Switzerland, Foreign Literature Library, Moscow, Russia
2009 Rouen Youth Book, Funambule Librarie, Rouen, France
Awards/Grants/Fellowships:
2020 Residency, Art Residence Tumen, Tumen, Russia
2018 Contemporary Visions, International Juried Exhibition, BEERS London Gallery, London, United Kingdom Longlisted (Juror: Kurt Beers, Director of BEERS London, Author of “100 Painters of Tomorrow” & “100 Sculptors of Tomorrow,” London, United Kingdom)
2016 Enter, Workshop, Prague Civil Society Centre, Prague, Czech Republic
2015 DAW Social Projects, Workshop, Teplitsa of Social Technologies, Warsaw, Poland
2009 Rouen Youth Book, a National Juried Illustration Exhibition, Rouen, France, Shortlisted
Print Media:
2012 “Best Young Book Illustrators + 1 Guest of Honor from Ex-USSR,” Trimag Publishing House, Moscow, Russia, September 01, 2012. 656 Pages, Hard Printed in ЕU, 1,225 copies.
Online Periodicals:
2017 Laura Collinson, “Bright Editorial Illustrations Reminiscent of Pixelated Computer Game Graphics,” Creative Boom, September 12, 2017. https://www.creativeboom.com/inspiration/bright-editorial-illustrations-are-reminiscent-of-pixelated-computer-game-graphics-/
2014 Simon Gordy, “Two Lines in My Life,” Monde Mag, February 14, 2014.
2008 Antoine Lecomte, “Linking Сultures,” Partfaliaz, March 29.
2008. http://www.partfaliaz.com/
Collections:
Boris Vian Library, Persan, France
Zdes na Taganke Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Education:
2010 BFA, Emerging Practices, EESI—Ecole Européenne Supérieure de l’Image, Poitiers, France