Uncensored Russia: Paul Eng @ The Riviera

From the land that gave us the Kremlin, vodka, and the faux-Sapphic pop stylings of Tatu comes the subject of photographer Paul Eng's latest exhibit. Titled "Russians," the show features artwork commissioned by Russian clients as well more personal pieces, all of which aim to pick apart the simplistic distillation of Russian culture and present something more authentic and three-dimensional.

The incisive, consumer-based nature of this exhibition gives a more insight into the culture’s more overlooked facets, instead of attempting to feed into our reductive tendencies (re-read the opener and evaluate how easily you took all of that in). But what Eng found in Moscow was an amateurish yet vivacious do-it-yourself mentality from a spirit that’s long been shuttled out of the city—only to pop up across the world in Brooklyn. It makes sense then that “Russians” is on display in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg, at the Riviera (opening tonight) instead of Chelsea or Greenwich Village. While Eng continues to be based out of Moscow, “Russians” ends its New York stay at the end of August.