“First of All, It’s Beautiful”: Press Conference and Exhibition Opening of Marat Guelman and the +-Komma Art Group | New York, November 19–22, 2025
Press Conference & Project Presentation
November 19, 2025
4:00 PM
Ethan Cohen Gallery
251 West 19th Street, New York, NY
Open Hours for the Public
November 20, 2025
6:00–8:00 PM
Ethan Cohen Gallery
Official Exhibition Opening
November 22, 2025
2:00–6:00 PM
KuBe Art Center
20 Kent Street, Beacon, NY
The exhibition will remain on view for three months.
More info: kubeartcenter.org
About the Project
First of All, It’s Beautiful is a new interdisciplinary project by Marat Guelman in collaboration with the international art group +-Komma (Ruslan Solopeev, Boban Markovic Jr., Jean Jules). The project introduces a fresh perspective on AI-generated art, treating it not as a technical tool but as a co-author that participates in producing new artistic codes and visual languages.
Marat Guelman — a curator, cultural strategist, gallery founder, and one of the key figures of the post-Soviet contemporary art scene — presents his newest artistic shift. After decades of working with institutions, exhibitions, and public cultural programs, Guelman moves toward a personal form of artistic expression, using artificial intelligence to reflect on the modern condition, civilizational fears, and the fragility of the present era.
The project was conceived in Montenegro in 2023, where Guelman began working with +-Komma, a group experimenting with graphics, video, installation, and hybrid media.
Concept
The starting point of the project is a striking observation:
the nuclear threat has become a political instrument, shaping our collective psyche.
But instead of engaging in direct political commentary, Guelman proposes a philosophical shift — to accept the idea of the end of civilisation in the same way we accept personal mortality. Through acceptance comes clarity. Through clarity comes freedom.
“First of All, It’s Beautiful” is not a project about destruction.
It is a project about how to continue living.
The exhibition turns one of the most terrifying symbols of the 20th century — the nuclear explosion — into a familiar aesthetic object, integrating it into interior and visual space. This radical gesture strips the image of its oppressive uniqueness and transforms it into an object of contemplation.
The visual language of the project references the history of world art — from ancient manuscripts to Impressionism, Pop Art, and Arte Povera — dissolving the boundary between beauty and catastrophe.
In this project, AI acts as a co-creator, generating unexpected forms, compositions, and symbolic connections.
The result is a new, paradoxical aesthetic:
a combination of serenity and danger, beauty and collapse, fear and acceptance.
Why It Matters
First of All, It’s Beautiful marks a turning point in Guelman’s trajectory — from curator and cultural manager to an artist whose language is inseparable from the tools of the 21st century.
The project asks:
How does culture transform trauma into meaning?
Can the aesthetics of disaster become a space of inner freedom?
What happens when the end of the world becomes part of our everyday visual culture?
This exhibition is a philosophical proposition and an artistic experiment — a rethinking of identity, fear, and the role of art in an age of uncertainty.
Visit Information
Press Conference: Nov 19, 4:00 PM, Ethan Cohen Gallery
Open Viewing: Nov 20, 6:00–8:00 PM, Ethan Cohen Gallery
Opening Reception: Nov 22, 2:00–6:00 PM, KuBe Art Center
Exhibition duration: 3 months
Contact & details: kubeartcenter.org
