Tova Mozard – ILOVERUSS

Tova Mozard, ILOVERUSS 

We are delighted to present the first part of Tova Mozard’s exhibition ILOVERUSS, featuring a three-channel video installation. In part II of the show, photographic works will be added to the project and shown in our smaller gallery space. The second part of the exhibition will open in connection with Gallery Weekend Stockholm, Friday 10 November, 17:00–20:00.

ILOVERUSS premiered at Nikolaj Kunsthal, Copenhagen, earlier this year. The video installation is now shown for the first time in Stockholm. In the project, Mozard follows the struggling actor Russ Kingston in Hollywood over a 20-year period. Their friendship plays out on the screens, where Mozard tactfully lets Kingston immerse himself in a monologue about acting and life – with Mozard as a supporting actor. With his crummy apartment as a backdrop, Russ Kingston’s constant battle for a life in the limelight evokes feelings of both awkwardness and tenderness. Other glimpses in the film involve a playful Tova Mozard swimming in a pool with Kingston. Scenes from Stanley Kubrick’s “Lolita” add another dimension to the relationship between the older man and a young woman.

On screen, Mozard is a smooth and caring observer of Russ Kingston’s whims and acts. At the same time, ILOVERUSS is a straightforward and honest portrait of the backwater of the entertainment industry. With Kingston as an intermediary, the futile struggle of mankind becomes painfully visible. There is, however, some hope; Russ Kingston is pursuing his only wish – to be an actor. He is acting even though no one is watching because acting is all he wants in life.

There is an equally important parallel thread running through the story in its subtle self-portrayal of the artist herself, an attempt to come to terms with – and perhaps even appreciate – having an outsider’s perspective. The almost childish proclamation ILOVERUSS could have been written on a wall somewhere at some point, a secret to cherish and hide. 

Tova Mozard (b 1978) earned a Master’s Degree in Fine Art from Malmö Art Academy and has also studied photography at University of California, Los Angeles. Recent solo shows include Nikolaj Kunsthal, Copenhagen, Ladies’ Room, Los Angeles, 1646 Art Gallery, Hague, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, Hasselblad Center, Gothenburg, and Botkyrka Konsthall, Stockholm. Selected group shows include Fullersta Gård, Moderna Museet, Sven-Harrys konstmuseum, Anthology Film Archives, New York, Norrköpings Konstmuseum, Malmö Konstmuseum, Artipelag, Stockholm, and Passagen Konsthall, Linköping. Her work is included in several public and private collections, e.g. Moderna Museet, Norrköpings Konstmuseum, Hasselblad Foundation and Public Art Agency Sweden.

View a short trailer of ILOVERUSS