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Iconographers Drobot, (Paris)

ICONOGRAPHERS: ARCHPRIEST GEORGE DROBOT AND GEORGE G. DROBOT

Drobot Georgy Nikolaevich was born on November 2, 1925 year in Kharkov. He was the son of Nikolay Trofimovich Drobot, and brother of Vsevolod Drobot. Georgy Nikolaevich is the father of Georgy G. Drobot and priest Andrey Drobot. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, he was forcibly taken to Germany, to Berlin as «Ost-arbeiter». At the end of the war he moved to France. He graduated from the St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris. He married the niece of the Metropolitan Vladimir (Tikhonitsky). Georgy Drobot was ordained deacon in 1952 and in the priest in 1953. He was rector of a church in Moranzhe (Department of Moselle, 1953-1955), and then the Church of the Holy Trinity in Montbeliard (department Du). He similarly performed in 1956-63, responsibilities of the rector of St. Spyridon Tremithous in Rueil-Malmaison (near Paris). He became Archpriest in 1974, member of the Diocesan Missionary Committee. In 1960, he took up iconography, and designated temples in Clamart (near Paris) and Murmelone (Marne department). He is the founder of the iconography school, and prepared numerous students (mainly in France). Member of the Society “Icon” in Paris. In 1967, he participated at the exhibition of modern icons, organized by St. Sergius Church on the 40th anniversary of the Society “Icon”. He delivered lectures about the Russian icon at meetings of the Russian Student Christian Movement (RSCM). In 1973 he defended his dissertation at the Catholic Institute for a doctorate in theology on “The Iconography of the Nativity of Christ.” From 1963 to 1988, he was rector of the church of Constantine and Helen in Clamart (near Paris). Since the mid-1980s. he also served in the monastery of All Saints Resplendent in the Russian Land, near the city of Murmelon (France). Since the late 1990’s he resided in Strasbourg (France). In 2003 he became the Mitre Archpriest. He retired in 2004. Georgy Nikolaevich Drobot passed away on November 4, 2011 year in the “Russian House” in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois, near Paris.

“Christ Pantocrator” (30 x 25 cm) by Archpriest Georgy Drobot
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Son of Archpriest George Drobot, icon painter George G. Drobot met us at his studio in the Petit Palais, located on Winston Churchill Avenue in Paris. In this room, the icon-painting school still works, founded half a century ago by his father. Today we would like to offer the conversation with George G. Drobot and photo essay by photographer Vladimir Bazan about this island of Russian culture in the French capital, to the readers of “Russian Art & Paris”.

“An amazing variety of fixations of the mysteries in our faith…”

Interview of the iconographer Georgy Drobot for the “Russian Art & Paris” journal.

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RA&P: – Georgy Georgievich, the tradition of Iconography involves continuous adherence to the same canon for generations. How is it possible to found a new painting school by Archpriest Georgy Drobot?

Georgy Drobot: – It is not correct to speak of a new school of icon painting. This concept is peculiar to historians in art, who continue the evolution of style through time and space. Specifically in time and space – modern icons are not the same in the USA, Europe and Russia, or Greece. For the iconographer, this approach is completely different: it seeks to convey the age-old tradition of the church (canon), despite the fact that the support will be Byzantine, Russian or Balkan. The approach is not based on style, but meaning. I am referring to the deceptive form that often conceals charm, delight, and tender emotion. The canonical icon presents a holy image, an example of which is the history of man, whom we honor, because in his life he embodied the right attitude, the ascent to that, to which man is called – to the eternal peaceful life at the source of love of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is what an icon should portray. To present this salutary admonition in a worthy way, there have been centuries of polishing of the canonical measure, which we devoutly obey. Catholicity directs our creativity to the glory of the Lord, and not arbitrariness. Style undergoes constant change – most important is to be in the correct prayer proportion: Image-Prototype. And then, we see an amazing variety of fixations of the mysteries in our faith and church history with the glorification of the hordes of saints. The iconographic mail letter is like handwriting: there are individual traits, there are historically-national moments: the Balkans, Greece, Syria, Egypt, Russia – all Orthodox country, but how many different temperaments. So the main motive of Archpriest George Drobot was to indicate the Beauty of the Orthodox tradition, while being in exile.

RA&P: – Who was involved in the creation of this icon painting school, in addition to your father?

Georgy Drobot: – The very first modern schools of icon painting appeared in the West, during the 30s years. In 1925 year the first association in Paris was created – «Assotiation Icône», thanks to V. Ryabushinsky, N. Istselenov, G. Morozov and others. In the 50s years they were joined by new refugees: G. Krug, L. Uspensky, etc. My father was also involved in that union, having previously studied under Pimen Safronov in Rome. The first customers were many Russian immigrants and Orthodox churches, which back then where created modestly. It should be noted that even Catholics too, with great interest, accepted the traditional Orthodox icon. In those years, after World War II, communication with the Russian Orthodox Church in the Soviet Union had been difficult for obvious reasons. Now, thank God, things have changed and the exchange is developing very creatively with Russian icon painters. Plots, as in ancient times, are the Virgin, the Saviour, the patron saint and the newly glorified. Similarly there appear icons of Western saints of St. Francis, St. Teresa, etc. First we need to respect the praise of our common blessed saints (before the split of year 1054) that are still revered in the West as in the East Christian world. The Catholic Church has since glorified many devotees that can be adequately represented by the icon. But this is justified only to Catholics. Orthodox people ought not to pray before the icons of Western saints.

RA&P: – Creating Icons is a complex process. How big is the proportion of modern, including synthetic, materials?

Georgy Drobot: – Iconography technology strictly observes ancient techniques: they have been tested for centuries! Modern materials are only tempting to the lazy.

RA&P: – Ancient icons were repeatedly over-painted. How to determine the original?

Georgy Drobot: – In restorative practice, the technology of separating layers has been developed. That is, each layer of paint is transferred to a new foundation, and is not destroyed (I.Grabar Institute of Scientific Restoration and Conservation of Arts, development by V. Ovchinnikov). In this case, the original paint layer can be very damaged. Laboratory analysis can determine the reasonableness of delamination of later layers.

RA&P: – In Russia, at present, there is a process of restitution of the Russian Orthodox Church’s possessions lost in the Soviet era. There is a pressing issue about the return of icons that are in museums and require special storage conditions. How do you feel about the possibility of the transfer of icons from the museum’s collections?

Georgy Drobot: – The icon is the subject of prayer and church worship. Then an icon lives and benefits the believers. A museum is not it place. See the remarkable step of the State Tretyakov Gallery: Vladimir’s Icon of the Mother of God was moved to the Chapel, where there is a glimmer of a lamp, candles, and pilgrims come free with their prayers to this beautiful monument of our history.

RA&P: – How do you feel about the idea of an exhibition of modern icons?

Georgy Drobot: – In fact, the icon is not the subject of exhibitions, like any other work of art. However, the first contact often occurs due to exhibitions. Perhaps it is reasonable. ©

On September 27, 2012 from Paris.
Copyright by Russian Art & Paris.

The icon of the Mother of God “Tenderness” (30 x 25 cm) by Georgy G. Drobot

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Note: The full photo essay by photographer Vladimir BAZAN is in our section “Photo Essay”

2012: 10/01
CATEGORY: JOURNAL
3 comments

Artist Aleksandr Fayvisovich, (New York)

THE EXHIBITOR OF THE SALON “ART CAPITAL” 2012 – 2015
THE EXHIBITOR OF THE “ARTEXPO” NEW YORK 2010 – 2014

I’m actually interested by the person in the space of the day – the only space that he controls. Where moment by moment, our entire life eventually passes by. The moment, is an instant to be taken as part of the event, as an episode. This is incorrect. In the art of figurative painting, every moment which is expressed through a gesture is the event. Understanding the gesture as the central accenting phase of movement of the entire figure, not just a separate part of the body, objectively leads to an unexpected conclusion: any non-rhythmic movement is a gesture, because any single non-rhythmic movement carries inside itself a definite thought.

The construction of a movement in the two-dimensional space of a canvas is first of all a transfer of the meaning of the motion. If this is successful, then a key component of fine art arises: the artistic idea. I like the thesis by G.Gadamer – “creating art brings forth the truth of the things”. The truth, intuitively perceived by the author, can be conveyed to the audience only in the form of the artistic idea of two-dimensional space. The occurrence of the main artistic idea, is a phenomenon of the new and unknown truth.
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Aleksandr Fayvisovich for the readers of the ”Russian Art & Paris”.

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“The artist is the intermediary between the people and their subconscious,
and therefore must be a clairvoyant and a good psychologist.”

Rostislav Barto

An insightful remark, taken as an epigraph, comes to mind when meeting the artworks of Aleksandr Fayvisovich, a Russian artist now living in New York City. This is not just about his portrait compositions, both painting and graphic, but also about the paintings of pure landscape or landscape-like genres. This feeling comes from the emotional tone of his work, the slow release of the feelings and senses contained in the works. The state of somewhat detached thoughtfulness, the unsteady associations born by them, and a special philosophy of artistic vision, become the main content.
• Aleksandr Fayvisovich is a master of traditional style, and a thoroughly modern artist by nature of perception and feeling. He stands firmly on the positions of figurative art, perhaps with rare exceptions, not focusing much on objectivity and transforming natural impressions quite easily. Objective things, without losing their authenticity, are imbued with the subjective. The figurative-narrative beginnings in his works are noticeably weakened. They do not so much tell about something, as they evoke certain feelings, create a mood.
• Even in purely, at first glance, practice drawings of the artist in the series of “Movement”, “Dynamic pause”, “Study of Rodin,” there is a certain distancing from an academic problem, from demonstration of his professional acumen. Yet somehow completely unintentionally there still arises a palpable emotional weight.
• This is revealed in the series of sketches “The Glance”, in the graphic self-portrait, and especially in the series of drawings “September 11”. The personal differences and the involuntary commonness of a reaction, unified by the unseen tragedy: a feeling of being dazed, deep shock, and inescapable horror of the very possibility of such an atrocity, are all conveyed very convincingly. In runaway outlines of dry sepia, the perception by each of the diverse people of the monstrous atrocity, done right before their eye, is sensitively caught. Sharp observations appears in the masterful interpretation of guises. Facial nuances, characterizing the experiences of some particular individual, are caught by the artist’s tenacious gaze.
• Though it may seem strange, in the paintings of this master to a greater extent than in his sketches, our perception is directed from the depicted to the depicting. The landscape or genre motives are not as amusing on their own, as their pictorial interpretation by the artist, his comprehension of their emotional and imaginative nature, and the thoughts and feelings aroused by them in creative imagination. Subjective vision chooses or transforms an object of observation with heightened sensitivity to the hidden possibilities in it. This is akin to the lyrical rather than the epic literary genres.
• It is interesting and significant that such a mature and experienced painter as Aleksandr Fayvisovich consistently gives himself highly diverse professional tasks, as if the period of attaining mastery remains for him for life. This suggests an extreme strictness of a talented artist for whom the problems of painting mastery are still as relevant and important as in the years of student youth. His artistic etudes and paintings with a semi-nude and a nude model – evening, night or early morning – are marked by heightened attention to the found authenticity of postures, gestures, facial expressions, character of the lighting of the figures, and the color and compositional decisions of each canvas.
• The culture of color perception developed by him is quite high. But when observing in the painting “Winter Light” the naked girl’s torso, immersed in the conventional luminous space flowing around it, there arises a great sense of unerring coloristic harmony and accurately-guessed compositional decision. The noticeable shift to the right from the center of the canvas, breaking the familiar symmetry, gives the image of unexpected poignancy. The artist avoids accentuated physicality here, but within the fragility and semi-illusory of his painting, there spontaneously arises a hidden sense of delicate and chaste eroticism.
• Examples of honed artistic mastery and emotional fullness, like an accidentally noticed motif, could be such works by Aleksandr Fayvisovich as “July” and “Quiet island”. Maintaining the appearance of full-scale improvisation, his deliberate understatement, the intensity of the lyrical experience of each of them, organized by the creative will of the master, is raised to the level of philosophical-meditative paintings. The poetic motif in them is much wider than the external artistic scene.
• The treasure of the everyday joys of life and serene peace became the lyrical overtones of these paintings, written as if impromptu, but very far from thoughtless etudes. Everything in them is subordinated to the infallible color scheme, to the carefully calibrated color-sound of each element of the composition, subordinated to the planned out sense of wholeness. These are seemingly low-key, not especially remarkable motifs. But seen as if with “washed” eyes, they are very fresh and uncommon. The gentle touches of a freely drawing brush, the triumphant glow of transparent-bright colors are the secret charm of these enchanting paintings. This is his “July.”
• The spontaneous character of execution here is only seeming. This impression is created by the live rhythm of the visual storytelling and the artistic ease of painting. In general, such paintings that are sketch-like by their external visibility, are inherent to internal picturesqueness. There is no brash outburst of initial emotional experiences. They speak not so much of a fleeting moment, what is seen by chance, as about the quiet joy of existence, captured in it.
• The artistic reflection and the implicit philosophy of artist’s works, is perhaps even more evident in the painting “Quiet island”. The profile image of a young woman, frozen in a slightly detached reverie, a soft glow of the generally depicted background, the water surface with reflections of a cloudy sky, near and far shore, a light and air state melting together all forms, is the entire artistic “plot” of the painting. How could it be said in a word, the state of meditative immersion, the experience of simple and eternal values of existence? How could it be conveyed, the music so correctly guessed by the artist, of the seemingly simple motif? In the artistic incarnation of the inexplicable, painting has clear advantages over literature.
• Deliberate understatement is inherent to the creative method of the master, opening many interpretations, allowing anyone to immerse themselves into the space of the image. As if right before our eyes, there manifests a spontaneous transition of direct experiences into the plan of spiritual and contemplative reflections. This painting is for prolonged viewing; its figurative information opens not at first sight, but requires a patient understanding, penetrating comprehension.
• Aleksandr Fayvisovich is a naturally original artist, but is devoid of the distinctive deliberate strangeness of uniqueness. The distinctive character of his visual thinking is the unobtrusiveness of the author’s imaginative ideas, suggesting the “work of the picture in the viewer” (K.Petrov-Vodkin). The process of associative refraction of the visible moves along the course of our perception of his paintings, watercolors, and drawings, thanks to the intuitive attainment of emotionally meaningful aspiration of the author’s will. Opened by a wide variety of quests, he easily retains artistic originality, the ability to remain himself on paths of modern visual art. (This article is an excerpt. The full version of the article is available at the artist’s personal website – click the button “Artist’s website” below).

by Efim Vodonos,
Honored Artist of the Russian Federation,
Director of the Russian art department of the Saratov State Art Museum
named after A.Radischev.

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Pictures in the text (from above):
“Night etude. Gesture” Oil on canvas. (61 x 61 cm);
“July” Oil on canvas. (76 x 76 cm)

“Winter” Acrylic on board. (61 x 96 cm)

THE SKETCH-BORDERING
For connoisseurs of art that is authentic and genuine, the paintings and drawings by the artist Aleksandr Fayvisovich will seem familiar and close. Here the female imagery is close to the symbolic aesthetics, landscapes are generated by the moist air of impressionism, and very penetrating portraits that revive the spirit of Viennese artists of “Secession”. And yet, this art is deeply individual and consists of modern impressions of the artist, most likely drawn from the warm and vital reality than the world of the past.
• It is very tempting to consider the creative work of Fayvisovich in the context of the ideas of Gesamtkunstwerk (“The combined work of art”). This massive direction was generated in the middle of the 19th century by Richard Wagner in an effort to unite all the arts into one synthesis under the beginning of music. As is known, great ideas are more easily implemented in a small scale. This explains the special predisposition of Fayvisovich towards graphic techniques. Moreover, the main form of creative vision of the artist can be called the etude. A graphic or pictorial sketch declares itself as a complete form of seeing and an inquisitive understanding of the world, being the essence of the artistic method of a master.
• Particularly interesting is the convergence of the frameworks of sculptural and graphic searches in a series of artworks devoted to the theme of Rodin (“A Study of Rodin”). Here Fayvisovich shows the sculptural foundation of a pencil or charcoal sketch, in the emphasized structured approach to the human body. Often his sketches resemble texts requiring attentive reading, a travel on the fractures of separate gestures. In front of us is not a sticky modeling,
but a carving of an image, by clear and lively expressive lines.
• Such an “extraction” of the image from the air of the fine web of art graphics, somewhat resembles drawings of M.Vrubel, who built his pictures by cutting forms, removing unnecessary slag, external details. In the creative works of Fayvisovich before us, from the flow of light on a blank sheet of paper emerges the future character.
• Drawings under the name “Movement” are an analysis of the living form, based on the findings of Rodin and Hodler, with their search for a new, beautiful person in a natural environment, and also of the experience of soul-searching by masters of the Vienna “Secession.” In essence, the goal remains the same – to find visual possibilities in the transmission of the psychological state of the person. Rejecting the exterior styling, this searches rushed deep into the spiritual world of models. The results of such searches can lead to turmoil. Portraits of the graphic series “September 11” are proof of this. Before us there is a series of faces, outlined by sharp lines, as if the cardiograms of fates, snatched by a pencil drawing from the overall pulse of the tragedy.
• Perhaps the main virtue of the master’s paintings is the originality of his artistic ideas. Aleksandr Fayvisovich demonstrates absolute command over the modeling of forms with the aid of color spots. It is certainly no secret that impressionists, and later Paul Cezanne, became the foundation for the entire modern school of painting. Fascination over them existed throughout the history of visual art in many stages. However, Fayvisovich’s impressionism vision and constructive color spot of Cezanne, is not a tribute to fashion and tradition but a path towards discovering new facets of live reality. His art remembers and knows too much to be simply a direct reproduction of a primary source.
• The artist is extremely attentive to the problem of contact between form and content. His best artworks reveal a successful synthesis of these components. Thus, the “Cherry” is a amazingly open, unbuttoned glance at the entrancing world, reflected in the choice of the centrifugal, outward-unfolded composition. This still life is made in a form that is rare for the master, easel painting. In an effort to capture the freshness of the experience, he again and again returns to the form of pictorial sketches, with open textures, fluid lines and playful dynamics of color spots. The winningly poignant painting “Quiet island”, is a synthesis of portrait and panoramic landscape with clear simplicity of the chosen resources and emotional purity.
• According to the artist, the form of a painting is a responsible choice. It “requires not only the non-trivial solutions of the composite, but also new subjects of “its own”. The artistic truth which so difficultly arises on the canvas, can only appear within emotionally motivated visual constructions. Ignoring these conditions leads to the profanation of the picture itself. This is exactly what occurred on a massive scale in Soviet visual art”.
• However, the most warm, intimate themes are addressed by the master in series of etudes. Thus, for the nocturnes “Full Moon” and “Night Etude. Gesture” the artist chose a rather complicated for plots in the genre of “nude”, form of pictorial sketch. By releasing the naked body from the clutches of clothes, dressing it in light and nature. The eroticism and sophistication of these themes, is woven from simplicity and is appealing by the naturalness of the whole.
• Despite the sketch orientation, the eye does not want to break away from the works of Aleksandr Fayvisovich. All of them are part of one great theme, each time solved by the master in scattering of variations. The artist seems to invite the viewer to “reread” them again and again, capturing with the fleeting depiction, the multiple meanings of the content. The reason is the special gift of the master to be receptive to the synthesis of the arts, a synthesis based on the great tradition of modernism.

by Nadezhda Chamina, Ph.D. in Art History
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Pictures in the text (from above):
“The Septemder 11” Pencil on paper. (40 x 30 cm); “Movement. Study 1” Pencil on paper (51 x 36 cm); “Movement. Study 3” Pencil on paper. (51 x 36 cm); “The glance” Watercolor on paper, (51 x 36 cm).

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“Quiet island” Oil on Canvas. (61 x 76 cm)

“The painting “Quiet Island“, reveals yet another facet of the artist’s talent. Post-Impressionist in style and reminiscent in many respects of Cezanne’s style, in a few broad, rapid strokes of contrasting colors, Fayvisovich takes us back to the beauty and tranquility of nature. In his use of bright, contrasting colors in figure painting, Fayvisovich emphasizes expression, emotion, mood and state of being. …Reflecting versatility and talent, Aleksandr Fayvisovich’s paintings are a Post-Impressionist tour de force“.

Claudia Moscovici, Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, writer, art critic.

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In contemporary art, with its characteristic variety of styles, the creative work of many artists is focused on finding new art forms that are adequate for our time. In the artworks of Aleksandr Fayvisovich, these searches can be seen clearly and distinctly. His understanding of pictorial composition, with an emphasis on the development a color theme, retains the basic features of classical paintings. Simultaneously with this, the style of the artwork emphasizes their sketch-like, living nature. The carefully though out snapshot of reality becomes the basis of the art image, determining the validity and familiarity of the plot. The coloring of the picture is developed around a central color theme – the theme of a silver-blue moonlit night, or a bright yellow, sunny July afternoon. The combination of a classic compositional construction and a light, laid-back manner of an image in the style a sketch, is a distinctive feature of many works by this artist. Interest towards everyday reality, towards genuine human emotions continues the tradition of European art of the first half of the twentieth century. Real modern people, not just some stylized conventional schemes, as the foremost plot of figurative painting, returns to viewers in the paintings of many contemporary artists.

American Art Collector Magazine # 84
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“Snowfall” Oil on Canvas. (92 x 92 cm)
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Aleksandr Fayvisovich was born (1955) and raised in Moscow. He went through the traditional stages of artistic education in Russia. During the years of training in art school the advice from Nikolai K. Solomin Senior (1916-1999), a bright representative of the classical realistic art, was of great importance; the master stood apart from the formal teaching, but influenced many contemporary Russian artists. Aleksandr graduated from the Moscow State Academic Art College in Memory of 1905, where he studied under Victor Slatinsky (currently professor V. Slatinsky is dean of Faculty of Painting of the Moscow Art Institute named after V.Surikov, Russian Academy of Arts) and Yuri Sedov (1979). Upon moving to New York City in the 1990’s, he continued his professional development at the Fashion Institute of Technology. After years of simultaneous work in book design, illustration, and painting, he concentrated on a full-time career in fine art.
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EXHIBITIONS

Painting by Aleksandr Fayvisovich in the exhibition of the Salon “Art Capital” 2015, (Paris).

Painting by Aleksandr Fayvisovich in the exhibition of the Salon “Art en Capital” 2014, (Paris).

Painting by Aleksandr Fayvisovich in the exhibition of the Salon “Art en Capital” 2013, (Paris).

Painting by Aleksandr Fayvisovich in the exhibition of ArtExpo New York 2013, (New York).

Painting by Aleksandr Fayvisovich in the exhibition of the Salon “Art en Capital” 2012, (Paris).

Painting by Aleksandr Fayvisovich in the exhibition of ArtExpo New York 2012, (New York).

2012: 09/15
CATEGORY: ARTISTS
JOURNAL
6 comments

Artist Yuri Larin, (1936 – 2014)

THE “RUSSIAN ART & PARIS” INTRODUCING:

I always considered it very important to preserve the picture’s plane as single entity, as a given. The illusion of deep space destroys the natural two-dimensional feature of the image on the canvas. I have realized long ago this hidden, mysterious law of painting and always strove for wholeness of the original plane. This flatness of the image, newly re-open by the artists of the twentieth century, is definitely one of the most important phenomena in the painting of our time.

I often transfer successful discoveries made in watercolor to oil painting, on canvas. It is possible in that sense, that I was influenced by Cezanne. The unpainted canvas ground – is transferred from watercolors. These omissions are natural part of the composition, just like a pause in a musical piece. The pause is significant for all types of art, and perhaps in painting it is still underrated. In music, its sound is always changing – it is constantly in motion. What about in painting? How can an artist coordinate movements of light and color masses in the real visible world, with the space of the canvas, which is unchanging? Hence, painting must be different …

Yuri Larin for the readers of the ”Russian Art & Paris”.

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“Failures? … I do not know. I always moved forward.”

Interview of the artist Yuri Larin for the “Russian Art & Paris” journal.

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RA&P: – Yuri Nikolaevich, the history of Russia in the twentieth century is tragic. What events of this history make you feel optimistic?

Yuri Larin: – Optimism is generally characteristic of the Russian people, even though there has been a lot of grief. This includes my life. But I always got lucky with good people and friends. I am grateful to my relatives who raised me like their own son, until they themselves were arrested. I gratefully recall the Akhtubinsky orphanage; I am still friends with the son of the orphanage director Vladimir Klimov. In 1990’s, when the redistribution of property took place in Moscow, my workshop was taken from me and I was forced to vacate the premises within five days. Then the wonderful doctor Alexander Konovalov, who had operated on me twice, helped temporarily store my artworks in the basement of the Institute of Neurosurgery. Vladimir Lukin and Yury Karjakin helped me get a new workshop. Even in hard times, most people remain human – I always noticed this.

RA&P: – The cultural history of the past century is complex and diverse. What events in the field of culture do you consider most significant?

Yuri Larin: – If you consider the field of literature, there were wonderful poets: Mandelstam, Pasternak, Zabolotsky… In the field of Russian art I love Russian avant-garde of the first half of the 20th century: Tatlin, Malevich. I was greatly influenced by their younger contemporaries, the representatives of “Jack of Diamonds” – Kuprin, Konchalovsky, Falk and other followers of Cezanne. This is not an exact answer to your question, but for me, Cezanne remains as an unshakable, cornerstone figure in the visual arts. All Russian art of the early 20th century was influenced by Cezanne. The publishing house “21 Century” will soon release a book by Elena Murina on Paul Cezanne. This is the first great book about his work that is written in Russian. I like how the art developed in Russia after the revolution. When the revolutionary romanticism ended, a period of conservatism began. This was a huge loss in the sense of the formation of artistic idea and artistic image. Then visual art started to recover, but not in the direction which I expected.

RA&P: – What do you think about the present state of art in Russia?

Yuri Larin: – This is a very bad time for my evaluation of contemporary art. Not everyone will be happy. What I see is a degradation. There is an abundance of artists for whom the plot moves away, presents itself at an almost unconscious level, and leads to a loss of art image. The so
called modern painting is a loss of meaning. For me the absence of formal visual objects does not mean the complete rejection of meaning. Meaning is not literary content. The meaning of painting – it is a spiritual beginning, which is always present in the work of art. Harmful commercialization, the pressure of popular culture on the artist leads to a downfall in artistic level, the loss of meaning.

RA&P: – Many your artworks are on display today in the largest Russian museums.The road from first sketches to great museum collections has been both long and difficult. Is there a sense of satisfaction today?

Yuri Larin: – Recognition came to me only in 1982 year. It was an exhibition at the Moscow Theater of Yermolova. My work got there thanks to my friend, artist Valeriy Volkov. In 1989 year, after the first major solo exhibition placed in the Central House of Artists, many museums have purchased my artworks. One of my biggest successes, I think was the solo exhibition in the Saratov State Art Museum of Radishchev in 2004 year. Subsequently, this museum acquired some of my paintings. In recent years, a lot of my works (drawing and oil) appeared in the Russian Museum’s collection. Perhaps this is the ultimate dream for any Russian artist. On the other hand, an artist can feel famous when his paintings become famous. In this sense, I still have room to grow …

RA&P: – What was the most important thing that you have managed to achieve, or perhaps understand, as an artist?

Yuri Larin: – Over my years of work, I have experienced a transformation of my artistic vision. At first, my ideal was the so-called landscapes of condition, and I was pleased when I was able to depict a rainy, foggy or evening environment. Since about 1974, I noticed that in watercolor paintings I had made, there appeared an increasing amount of deformations of space and generalizations of real objects in color masses; from this, the work of art would become more seamless and musical. Starting from 1976, I’m painting a little from natural life, and most of my watercolor and oil paintings are workshop’s works. These are the result of my observation of nature and the fixation in memory of the initial impulse, which is done with the help of a pencil drawing made on the spot. Good creative work must have two beginnings, i.e. should encompass both the visual and the musical side. Looking through my work, I realized that the good ones are those in which the struggle with the visual for the musical side reached its limit. The continuation of this struggle would have led to a complete loss of depiction, which means the loss of one of its two beginnings. I think that a work is completed upon reaching the limiting state of the transition from the visual beginning to the musical.

RA&P: – What paintings do you think are the most important in your work? Towards which of your works would you like to draw the audience’s attention in the first place?

Yuri Larin: – I work in three techniques: drawing, watercolor, and oil. For years, I created a series of watercolors in various locations: Moscow, Northern Italy, Germany, the Baltic States, the Yaroslavl region. In each of this series there are at least a few canvases which I consider significant. As for oil, the most important is considered to be “The white tree.” It is the most famous work, and is now located in the State Russian Museum. I would like to quote from an article “Authenticity of destiny” by Elena Murina: “… no wonder he so often says, always facing our modern politicized life – No, painting is better! as if reminding himself and others of the high calling of art to resist the worldly whirlpool and confusion of the senses. And in fact, looking at such a masterpiece, as “The white tree”, one can not but agree – Yes, painting is better! This canvas, where white, pink and blue, which are risky colors for painting, met and fused with each other, as it could only be in a sudden vision or beautiful dream, was created in a happy moment of creative completeness.” In fact, I think the most important artworks (landscapes, portraits, still life), are those in which I was able to bring my basic principle of the limiting condition. There are many, so it hardly makes sense to list them.

RA&P: – Have their been moments in your art life that you would regard as creative failures?

Yuri Larin: – Creative failures …. I do not know. I always moved forward. If I had an unsuccessful work, I simply did not show it.

RA&P: – Right now, next to you is your spouse – Olga Maksakova. The role of Olga in your work – is it the role of a Critic or a Muse? What does she think about this?

Olga Maksakova: – I’m not a critic, because I do not consider myself a person competent in this area. All that I can say about the work of Yuri Larin, I learned from him. Prior to meeting him, I considered fine arts to be “third-rate”. Literature – yes! Music – of course, but not painting. When I first came to the studio of Yuti Larin, I had a cultural shock. After two hours of watching his work, it became clear: there is something strikingly important, which is beyond my comprehension. Well, for many years I humbly learn. So how can I be a critic? No critic, no Muse. I have the caring, saving role. “The Artist and the Muse” – this is not about us …
Yuri Larin: – Although there are 5-6 portraits.
Olga Maksakova: – Yes, and perhaps, when needed, I was a model. Discipleship is about what art can do to a person. Here is my first in a series of portraits. When it was created, it was obviously emotionally important to me – how gradually my picture appears and solidifies on the canvas. And then, looking at the finished thing, I was suddenly conscious of myself as a professional; I realized what allows me to be a therapist. It is this flow, the streaming lines, their interaction with stable color spots in the background … So Yuri among other things played a significant role in my professional life. ©

Note: Olga Maksakova – PhD in Medical Science, psychotherapist, leading researcher of the Institute of Neurosurgery named after N. Burdenko.

On August 26, 2012 from Moscow.
Copyright by Russian Art & Paris.

AUTHENTICITY OF DESTINY
(Excerpt)

It would seem that Yuri Larin, who works in a free style of relaxed brushstroke and color, is far from direct appeals to any recognizable sources. Not betting on “originality”, he nevertheless reached the uniqueness, which is evident in his attitude for both the subject and the material of painting. First of all, this personal tone is associated with the impression of sincerity and dignity. This belongs to art that does not base itself on “success” and “self-assertion.” And one cannot but see the similarities with the figure of Yuri Larin, an artist who is undoubtedly focused not on himself but on painting, far from the hustle of the artistic “vanity fair.”
• Painting entered the life of Yuri Larin, as a happy reward for the courage and sacrifice it took to become an artist. On his way to an early-recognized vocation, he faced many obstacles: orphanage in childhood, tragic fate of parents N. Bukharin and A. Larina, the need to keep “in the shadows” by selecting some mediocre profession. Only at the age of thirty, Yuri Larin risked starting over his life and applied to the Stroganov School, from which he graduated in 1970. Today behind him is a long path: tireless work in various media, participation in many exhibitions, teaching in the Art School “Memory of 1905”, and creative trips around the country and abroad. After his first solo exhibition in 1982, Yuri Larin gained the reputation of a serious artist among the few fans and followers of “pure” painting.
• The social and aesthetic problems of the end of the 20th – beginning of the 21st century, more and more greatly replace painting on the periphery of artistic life. Therefore greater value is held by the standoff of its supporters to a disastrous process of rejection of art from the creative work culture created by the efforts of great artists of the twentieth century. Yuri Larin confirmed his belonging to the heirs of this culture, which was based on object-formative principles dating back to the work of Cezanne. Of course, he is is not a “Cezannist”, which would be an anachronism today. In general, its interaction with the riches of the classical pictorial heritage has no specific addresses. But when he recognizes “the conflict between the pictorial and musical – the eternal subject of painting” (the words of Yuri Larin), when he recognizes the art of painting as “the struggle of depiction with musicality”, his connection with the discoveries of Cezanne becomes apparent.

by Elena Murina, art critic,
member of the Union of Artists of the Russian Federation.

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Pictures in the text (from above):
“Settlement Garciems” Ink on paper. (50 x 43 cm); “In the woods. Latvia” Ink on paper. (49 x 42 cm); “Nude” Ink on paper. (41 x 19 cm)

“Church of the Ascension. Kolomenskoye” Oil on Canvas. (100 x 100 cm)

“… specifically the sense of musicality is what keeps the memory of the first encounter with the work of an artist. This softly melodic sonority of each canvas constitutes the essence of Larin’s paintings. Rejecting the entertainment of the plot, not pursuing an active expressiveness of form, Larin concentrates all efforts on the harmonization of the spiritual color image. Guided by a sense of harmony, the artist appeals to a corresponding sense in the viewer, bypassing the rational, literary-descriptive capabilities of the image. The more it moves in that direction, the more difficult it is to find words that can express the complex range of feelings, the aesthetic empathy that arises at a meeting with his paintings. With all his work, Yuri Larin seeks to comprehend the soul of the phenomenon of painting, to create pure painting in every sense of the word.”

May Miturich, People’s Artist of the Russian Federation, winner of the State Prize of the Russian Federation, member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR

“Road in the mountains” Oil on Canvas. (65 x 73 cm)

Larin Yuri Nikolaevich, a painter and graphic artist, was born in 1936 in Moscow. He is the son of the prominent Soviet statesman Nikolai Bukharin and Anna Larina. After the execution of his father and the arrest of his mother, he was raised by relatives – Boris and Ida Guzman (1938-46). After the arrest of B. Guzman (1946), at the age of ten, Larin was brought up in an orphanage in Stalingrad (Volgograd). At the age of twenty, when Anna Larina returned from Stalin’s concentration camps, Yuri Larin first learned the name of his father – Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (1956). Yuri Larin graduated from the Novocherkassk Engineering Institute, worked as a water engineer on the construction of the Saratov Hydroelectric Station and in the Engineering design organizations (1958-60). Together with his mother, he received permission to return to Moscow (1960). In 1960 he began studying at the People’s University of Arts named after N. Krupskaya in drawing and painting department under the guidance of A. Trofimov. He graduated from the Moscow Higher School of Industrial Art (former Stroganovskoye), with teachers: Professor I. Lamtsov, Professor G. Lyudvig, Docent V. Pashkovsky (1970). Yuri Larin taught at the Moscow State Academic Art College in Memory of 1905, (1970-1986). He has participated in art exhibitions since 1970. Yuri Larin is a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR (1977).

The works of artist Yuri Larin – painting and graphic art are in the collections of museums:
The State Russian Museum (Saint Petersburg); The State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow); The State Museum of Oriental Art (Moscow); Saratov State Art Museum named after A. Radischev; The State Historical and Architectural Museum “New Jerusalem” (Istra); Dilijan branch of the State Museum of Folk Art (Dilijan); Combined art museums and centers of aesthetic education of the Udmurt Republic (Izhevsk); The Volgograd Museum of Fine Arts; The Tomsk Regional Art Museum; East Kazakhstan Museum of Art; The Nizhny Tagil Museum of Fine Arts; The Moscow State Vadim Sidur’s Museum; Andrey Sakharov’s Museum (Moscow); The State Literary Museum (Moscow); The Collection of the Heinrich Böll Foundation (Berlin).

Russian spelling: Художник Юрий Ларин, (Москва)

2012: 09/01
CATEGORY: ARTISTS
JOURNAL
9 comments

“Russian Art & Paris” Art Show. Summer’12

Introducing a new section – “Russian Art & Paris” Art Show – the journal presents artists whose distinguishing feature, in addition to talent and creative skill, is primarily a bright individuality. These artists have their own recognizable style, and their own unique vision. The work of these masters: the sculptor Zakir Ahmedov, the artists Ksenia Lavrova and Sergei Trubin is concentrated mainly within the boundaries of the figurative genre. This genre demands from contemporary artist the highest level of artistic maturity. The artists whose works are presented in the Art Show section now, meet these high standards fully.

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SCULPTOR ZAKIR AHMEDOV, (BAKU)

Among the variety of styles and trends crowding the space of contemporary sculpture, the real choice for a creative person is amazingly small. Otherwise one can incorporate oneself into the flow of popular trends that attracts the attention of the public today. This would of course happen with the inevitable loss of an artist’s own face. Or an artist can try to sing his own melody with the risk to remaining unheard. This choice has always been there for the artist, but in our time, a person who values his creative freedom has a few more chances to protect this freedom. Sculptor Zakir Akhmedov is one of those who has already made his choice, and it is the natural choice for an artist with a talent and vision, for an artist who has something to say.
• Zakir Ahmedova’s figurative compositions, which are lyrical, chamber-like in form, with a touch of Art Nouveau, are attractive primarily with the preciseness of real-life observations. The study, the live sketch from nature, can be sensed and recognized in almost every work of the sculptor. To save the immediacy of the sketch, to pass on the first, brightest, and sharpest impression to the viewer, is the task that is effortlessly and naturally solved in many creative works of Zakir Ahmedova. The author’s own judgment is restrained, and in each story, the word is mainly owned by its heroes. In a wide range of compositional variations, a few major themes stand out. One of them, the theme of “man and woman,” is noticeable in several successful works. “Retro” and “Gothic“, pull towards the symbol-sign. “Moment” and “Love“, have an intense psychology of sensations. Charming, lyrical and startlingly authentic are the compositions which include household accessories (chair, balcony grill). The bronze composition “Stars“, one of the best in the works of this master, is a little monologue by the author about the meaning of life. Live to see a star at dawn, and for what else? ©

by Russian Art & Paris

“Love” Bronze / founding. (45 x 45 x 40 cm)

“Retro” Bronze / founding. (60 x 35 x 15 cm)

“Stars” Bronze / founding. (65 x 54 x 24 cm)

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ARTIST KSENIA LAVROVA, (SAINT PETERSBURG)

Probably one of the most impressive St. Petersburg graphic artists today, Ksenia Lavrova is equally gifted with a bright talent and a vibrant personality. An artist’s own style, the unique artistic vision are the features which are so highly valued in the art-world throughout all times. In the art of graphics, which is sophisticated and elitist by its nature, these features become critical . If there is no personal style, there is no artist. In the presented graphic compositions from the series “Historic Identities”, the problem of style does not appear theoretical. What is before us: a poster, an illustration, or an graphic arts? Where is the birthplace of these graphics: in the tradition of Russian Art Nouveau, or in the synthetic omnivorousness of pop-art? With what language does this artist speak to us? Perhaps the last question is the most interesting.
• It is easy to see that the compositional constructions of K. Lavrova include the texture of the material as a separate component of the image. The material world of objects, colliding with live characters, suddenly acquires the right to speak. In this metaphysical space, the justacorps ceases to be a detail of clothing and becomes an independent character of the narrative. Items enter a dialogue: with each other and with the main character of the artwork. The dialogue of objects is the basis of plot for many works of the artist Ksenia Lavrova. Marie Antoinette’s wig clearly mocks its mistress. Queen Boleyn’s cloak is only waiting for an excuse to challenge her right to the throne. The voices of the objects, like the voices of musical instruments, build the melody of the composition. This tune becomes its content.
• The traditional graphics language – the language of the conditioned space and chamber color rows noticeably expands the range of its capabilities in the works of Ksenia Lavrova. The harmony of the two fundamental, and at the same time difficultly compatible, graphic elements of lines and ornament is remarkable. The ornamental arrangement of the image’s plane is thought out and organic. The elegance of the compositional decisions, seemingly simple and obvious, is captivating by the conciseness and expressiveness of the result. Does everything mentioned above allow us to speak about the innovative nature of this artist’s work? Is it possible, within the framework of this artistic style, to create a painting with any, including any modern, theme. In other words, is this style sufficiently universal to be called a style? We will definitely search for the answer to this question in every new painting of the artist Ksenia Lavrova. ©

by Russian Art & Paris

“Queen Anne Boleyn” Acrylic on Paper. (41 x 55 cm)

“Marie Antoinette” Acrylic on Paper. (64 x 90 cm)

“Henry VIII “ Acrylic on Paper. (41 x 55 cm)

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ARTIST SERGEI TRUBIN, (ARHANGELSK)

Etchings by Sergei Trubin are a complex phenomenon. The etching technique is rightly considered one of the most difficult in fine arts. For those who have remained alone with a small sheet of metal are familiar with that feeling of fear in front of its black primed surface. Etching does not tolerate amateurs. In order to achieve serious results with this technique, it is necessary to dedicate your entire life.
• It is also complex because the central theme in the works of Sergei Trubin – erotica, requires from the author both an impeccable taste and an absolute individuality. An artist copying other people’s emotions is of no interest to anyone. To establish and reinforce an artist’s own creative style in a genre, which does not tolerate any hypocrisy or banality, is not easy, even for a sophisticated and experienced master. Sergei Trubin was able to achieve this objective.
• The aesthetics of the erotic compositions by S. Trubin is not uniform. Complex, unexpected metaphors of etchings “The tour” and “Phases of the Moon”, with the spatial-tonal accents and well-developed details, are close to the traditions of classical engraving. The reverberating, almost poster-like aesthetics in sheets “Girlfriends” and “Girl with the goat”, look sharp and modern. The use of large masses of white is interesting and nontrivial, and in general, not typical for the engraving on metal. The composition “Echo” has a charming sophisticated romanticism; the etching is amazing by its rhythmic tension, and by its exquisite tonal development of the dual-figured plot. The charm, lyricism, and clarity of style of this work make it possible to call this sheet a true work of art. Against the backdrop of senseless decorative tendencies that permeate contemporary graphics, the creative work of the artist Sergei Trubin is emotionally honest and open, having its own voice and its own intonation, will certainly find its own dedicated audience. ©

by Russian Art & Paris

“Ehco” Etching. (19 x 15 cm)

“Moon phases” Etching. (31 x 23 cm)

“The tour” Etching. (23 x 17 cm)

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2012: 08/15
CATEGORY: ART SHOW
ARTISTS
JOURNAL
1 comment

Artist Anastasia Vostrezova, (Saint Petersburg)

THE EXHIBITOR OF THE SALON “ART CAPITAL” 2011 – 2015

THE SILVER MEDAL OF THE SALON “ART EN CAPITAL” 2012

THE BRONZE MEDAL OF THE SALON “ART EN CAPITAL” 2011

I see painting as the art of depicting the world in its beauty, be it a person, landscape or flower. Everything has its own color, its own mood, its own soul. In the physical world, through the perfection of form, the divine manifests itself in beauty. Beauty reveals and depicts what is eternal. In my paintings, I try to follow this practice in an effort to ensure that in the hearts of viewers, the painting arouses a world of thoughts, emotions – happy or sad, but always poetic and sublime. Not always and not in every artwork can this result be achieved, but this is the main objective, without which painting becomes meaningless.

I spend a lot of time in the ballet theater, and in the auditorium, as well as backstage during performances and rehearsals. It is impossible not to love this magnificent scenic world. I often talk with the artists, musicians, people of ballet and I am very close to the words of the great Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, addressed towards all ballet dancers and artists alike … and even towards all people: “Let’s dance more, and try to find more beauty in the dance as well as in life. A true artist – whether he dances or does something else – always strives for beauty. So let us become one with the world of true artists, just as we become one with the world of dancers, because by replacing ugliness with beauty in visual images and intangible areas, we come a little closer to happiness and completeness …”.

Anastasia Vostrezova for the readers of the ”Russian Art & Paris”.

Against the backdrop of modern art, where there is no restriction of freedom of expression, we stop thinking that there is a downside to this permissiveness: the danger of losing the true balance between tradition and innovation, which are closely tied together. Today, the viewer who is more or less experienced in art, is difficult to hard to impress with catchy terminology of current trends. All of them can easily be heard or seen. The exhibition space is replete with all sorts of artistic “isms”, and each master armed with the latest artistic arsenal creates

his picturesque worlds. Sophisticated and whimsical, they are of interest to very few people. These inventions lacks the most important thing – the presence of the artist, the person who has something valuable to say.

The verified, genuine criteria of art is fully consistent with the creative style of Anastasia Vostrezova. A young artist who graduated from the St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts in 2008, she has already received good training in her native Yekaterinburg and managed to establish herself as a talented artist at many exhibitions.

The painter’s unique and at the same time recognizable own painting style has its roots in the best examples of the world’s art heritage. Real parallels with the Russian

native school of realistic painting of XIX century (we can remember iconic Vasily Polenov’s rural landscapes and bright, vivid beauty of women by Filipp Malyavin) appear in her art side by side with the influence of Mane and Degas. Yet, Anastasia preserves her individual and inimitable world vision, full of charming, magic, and soft poetry.

The genre preferences of painter are also very diverse; from time to time she devotes her brush to landscape, portrait, still life and composed figurative scenes.The variety of technique follows the variety of topics. The oil painting, quite familiar to the audience nowadays, neighbor in her art with refined and gentle pastel

technique, which was regarded through centuries as the most obvious confirmation of artistic skill. The plot, first of all capturing one’s attention in oil painting, here nearly vanishes; instead of it the sight is attracted by the grainy surface of the thick paper, agile strokes of the pastel pencil, slightly gleaming tones or, on the contrary, by the intense touch of pure color. Pastel is unsuitable for most complicated compositions and large-scale themes. Its own intimate nature determines the correct choice of the motifs themselves.

Therefore the lyrical artistic intonation of Anastasia Vоstrezova’s works is accompanied by the specific circle of certain subjects – the flower pieces evoking the noble spirit of old Russian aristocratic household; bright folk types in the spicy oriental taste; and in particular the ballet themes, the world of theater and backstage. The tender and opaque vibration of pastel colors actualizes the delicacy and grace of young ballerinas, who seem to be charming not only on the stage but also in everyday life. The informal gesture of a girl refreshing her make-up, a little tired posture of a sitting girl are all marked with the natural inner beauty, which is even difficult to speak out. In the native school of painting this careful attitude towards the model can be found in the art pieces of Zinaida Serebryakova, who also turned to the ballet theme in 1920-th. But the older artist depicted it as the magnificent brilliant feast while Anastasia interprets the ballet much more modestly. Theater appears in front of attentive spectator’s eye as the essential (but not routine) part of life, which is able to uncover with every new sight other nuances and semitones of genuine beauty.

by Olga Pavlova, art critic,
aspirant of the Saint Petersburg State University

“Sylphs”Pastel on Paper. (50 x 60 cm)

* * *

The St. Petersburg Conservatory and company «Akiva Talmi Presents» (USA) are organizers of a new annual exhibition and competition, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory.
The project was presented in May 2011. Opening of the first exhibition contest was held in the foyer of the Opera and Ballet Theater of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. It was attended by more than 20 authors: students of the I.Repin St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts and the Shtiglitz Academy of Art & Design, already famous St. Petersburg artists, members of the Union of Artists of St. Petersburg, and members of the Union pastel society. At the opening of the exhibition came Dan Talmi, president of the American company «Akiva Talmi Presents». The jury was headed by People’s Artist of the USSR Oleg Vinogradov. In the first round of the contest, the winners were three authors: Inom Mansurov – theater and cinema artist, Elmira Mustafina – one of the most well-known watercolorists of St. Petersburg, and young artist Anastasia Vostrezova – recent graduate of the I. Repin St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts.

The idea of the exhibition-contest “Ballet in the visual arts” is timed with the anniversary of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, which will be held in 2012. The French word «ballet» comes from the Italian word «balet-to» – dance. For the past three centuries, this word referred to the spectacle which combines music, dance, drama and visual arts. Ballet is a topic that has always inspired artists and sculptors, and the “Russian Ballet” is a special topic in the world of art. On April 29, 2012, the “World Day of Dance”, at the Opera and Ballet Theater in the St. Petersburg Conservatory, a ceremonial evening dance was held, at which the first part of the exhibition-competition “Ballet in the visual arts” was presented. The warm introduction was given by Oleg M. Vinogradov, People’s Artist of the USSR and dean of the stage-director department. Diplomas and money awards were given to the participants of the exhibition-competition on May 31, 2012.

by Natalia Yablokova,
curator of the “Ballet in the visual arts”

“Self-Portrait in a theater costume”Pastel on Paper. (60 x 50 cm)

Anastasia Vostrezova was born in a family of artists in Ekaterinburg (1981). She spent all of her childhood in Moscow and in Pereslavl-Zalesski where her family had a summer house. She graduated from the I.Shadr Art College, Ekaterinburg (2000) and continued her art education in Saint Petersburg. In 2008 Anastasia Vostrezova graduated from the I. Repin Saint Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts, where she studied in the studio of Professor M. Devyatov. Now she live and work in Saint Petersburg.

EXHIBITIONS

Painting by Anastasia Vostrezova in the exhibition of the Salon “Art Capital” 2015, (Paris).

Painting by Anastasia Vostrezova in the exhibition of the Salon “Art en Capital” 2013, (Paris).

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Painting by Anastasia Vostrezova in the exhibition of the Salon “Art en Capital” 2012, (Paris). The SILVER MEDAL 2012

.Painting by Anastasia Vostrezova in the exhibition of the Salon “Art en Capital” 2011, (Paris). The BRONZE MEDAL 2011

Russian spelling: Художник Анастасия Вострецова, (Санкт-Петербург)
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2012: 08/01
CATEGORY: ARTISTS
JOURNAL
5 comments

Editorial: Three Months at a Glance.

Dear readers of the “Russian Art & Paris” journal!
Within the three months of existence of our publication, its virtual pages have been visited by art lovers from around the world. We welcome every one of you!
Your letters, which we receive every day, are also the subject of our constant attention. Some of your requests we fulfill immediately and with great pleasure, like when asked by Mr. Heimann from Vienna to: “Please put me on your mailing list now. Thank you, Peter Heimann – Vienna, Austria“. Dear Mr. Heimann, your name and e-mail address will henceforth and forever be in our mailing list as number one.
In most cases, your suggestions about our publication require much more serious thought. Please be patient. In any case, every single letter is read, you can be absolutely sure of that.
Today, we are especially grateful to our authors – art historians and critics, who along with us began creating this journal from a blank editorial desk. Their faces and biographies of creativity traditionally remain “behind the scenes”, but their presence in the art world is no less important than the presence of the artists themselves. Viewers need them both.
The journal has just begun, not all sections have been deployed and not all categories are open yet, but the main thing that we have today is you – our readers! Who you are and where you are from can be best described by the visit statistics, which we bring to your attention now.

2012: 07/31
CATEGORY: JOURNAL
1 comment

Artist Andrey Shustov, (Naberezhnye Chelny)

THE EXHIBITOR OF THE SALON “ART EN CAPITAL” 2012 – 2014
A thin, barely discernible line at first moving timidly across the canvas, adjusting and refining, then stretches, gaining full strength, filling up with color, clinging to the very edge of the stretcher, and finally, turns into the horizon. The horizon, which is linearly hard and clear, is one of the principal characters in my paintings. The horizon of the table, the horizon of the room, the horizon of the landscape, very low, very high, defines the boundaries of the characters’ actions, sometimes sparingly giving them limited areas of freedom, other times generously sending them into a space without boundaries.

The horizon, cutting through flat space, pretending to be the edge of the painted screen, behind which it is impossible to see, and which is unable to be moved. The obstinate horizon reserves the right to disappear from the canvas and descend into observing the movement of the painting’s color masses, forcing even the author himself to believe in its necessity and invincibility.

Andrey Shustov for the readers of the ”Russian Art & Paris”.

In the modern era of polystylism in art, it is very difficult to not get lost and actually become a prominent figure with your own artistic world, one which is interesting for lovers of fine art. Learning from the experience of predecessors and mastering the grammar of a particular painting style does not guarantee success. This can only be the foundation. Pushing from it, building your own visual row, your own world of feelings, everyone has to go his own way, trusting intuition and striving hard for a self-sufficient sense of identity. Some painters follow the path of observation and reflecting upon the real world, and others through meditation and transformation of natural forms.

An artist who seeks his own intonation in the synthesis of the concrete and the imagined, is Andrew Shustov. His search for a new visual language, is an exploration into the color possibilities of painting. This search relies on the French school of painting of the late 19th – early 20th centuries, and their followers on Russian soil. This is possibly where the artist’s interest towards still life come from. The plotless painting, like a fragment of the reflection of the real world, becoming more popular among artists at the beginning of the 20th century, opens great possibilities of interpreting nature. Moving the object as close as possible, focusing on its integrity and materiality, the artist puts it on the canvas close-up, separating it from the surrounding reality. The two-dimensional space of the canvas thus becomes a cluster of artistic matter, a kind of decorative element, consisting of the living rhythm of color patches (“Onion”, “Tea”).

Landscape, once playing a minor role, has become a separate genre since the 17th century. Its rise came into the 19th century. At this time, it rose to the importance of an “eternal theme.” In modern art, its position remains unchanged. A huge variety of existing forms of the material world, movement, and internal connections of a single natural matrix are the creative impulse for the individual reading of the topic. In this traditional genre, many

contemporary artists continue to work productively, including Andrew Shustov who prefers the urban landscape. The effect of his paintings are based mainly on the contrast between a few key local areas of color and additional harmonic color series. Such works are fragments of the real world, transformed by the author’s imagination into a planar-decorative composition, with a strong color intensity and dynamic rhythms, which has lots of sunlight. In the urban landscape, the architecture itself, with its geometric shapes having clear contours, suggests a corresponding decision – the organization of space within the composition in the style of stained glass art with a strong facet of colorful spots (“Last Year’s Sun”, “Bay”, “Girona”, “Heat”).

The art of Andrew Shustov is also attractive due to the fact that he is a color-minded artist. Every element of his paintings is not accidental, but occurs according to the logic of a special reflection of reality, both the present one, and the one that is born within him. Figurative paintings are the fruit of the painter’s imagination, of his artistic fantasies coupled with the clear presence of irony and a tendency for oxymoron (“Antediluvian Childhood”). The author’s confident tone captivates the viewer and easily leads to the world invented by the artist. This world is populated by touching, funny, naive and charming characters, in some ways similar to us, made specifically with

simplified forms – bearded men, women, centaurs, creatures with wings, as well as birds and fish … The eccentric figures are static images, and their condition and mood is determined by the gesture, posture, the turning of the head (“Bathing in the hole”, “Rubicon”).

The core of his painting is color. Here is what the artist says about this: “The painting is a spot. The painting is a repository of large patches of color, sometimes breaking up into a mosaic, and other times gathering from the pieces of a stained glass window. The spots have a strict hierarchy. The main color of the fragment is surrounded by supporting, reinforcing, sagging, blurry boundaries, that do not let it break into a scream. Color, like the pianist in a silent movie, sculpts the emotional content of a painting. The plot is often just an excuse, subtitles, or tickers, which are sometimes unread …”

There is another important element in his works – the horizon, as a spatial coordinate. “The horizon, which is linearly hard and clear, is one of the main characters in my paintings. The horizon of the table, the horizon of the room, the horizon of the landscape, low or high, defines the boundaries of the characters’ actions.” The location of this line can change the author’s tone to influence the emotional timbre of the sound of the canvas.

Invented by the artist, the “color world, whose walls are no thicker than a primed canvas” is warm, clear, fragile and enigmatic. Meeting with its inhabitants is fascinating. Their actions, though strange at first glance, may cause a smile, compassion, and may give food for thought and open within them new hidden meanings, in tune with our times. Sometimes the very name of the painting pushes us towards this (“Oknograf”, “Green Tree”). Each painting of Andrew Shustov is a small fragment of his special artistic feeling, absorbing the entire kaleidoscope of life experience, reasoning, imagination and fantasy, imprinted in a variety of fleeting forms and views. Together, they form a picturesque artist’s universe. And each of them, “continues until the corner of the canvas receives the signature of someone who is so similar to brightly dressed men with beards.”

by Marina Abramova, art critic,

member of the Union of Artists of the Russian Federation.

“Onion” Oil on Canvas. (50 x 80 cm)

“…the glance towards objects, as a source of information revealing color harmony and rhythmical conflicts, is about the meaning and fate of the material world. All of this is skillfully assembled by artist Andrey Shustov into a short story by the name of “still life”. A story which is calm in form, yet extremely intense and vivid emotionally.”

Catherine Costes, columnist of the “Luxe Immo” magazine.

Andrey Shustov was born in 1963, lives and works in Naberezhnye Chelny. He graduated from the Art-Graphic Department of Yelabuga State Pedagogical Institute (1989, with honors). Numerous meetings with the artist Yuri Larin (Larin Yuri Nikolayevich, 1936 b., painter, Moscow) significantly influenced Andrey Shustov’s artistic work, shaping a new understanding and approach to painting.

EXHIBITIONS

Painting by Andrey Shustov in the exhibition hall of the Salon “Art en Capital” 2014. (Paris)

Painting by Andrey Shustov in the exhibition hall of the Salon “Art en Capital” 2012. (Paris)

Russian spelling: Художник Андрей Шустов, (Набережные Челны)

2012: 07/15
CATEGORY: ARTISTS
JOURNAL
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Artist Givi Siproshvili, (Ryazan)

THE EXHIBITOR OF THE SALON “ART CAPITAL” 2012 – 2015

I remember as a student, I just could not get the form of the model in drawing. Erasing the paper until holes appeared, I could not achieve integrity. The details were too distinguished and persistently jumped in foreground.

Soon a new drawing teacher came to us, a young artist by the name of Levan Tsutskiridze, who watching my torment, laughed, came up to me, and with a few lines completed the drawing. I looked at him in astonishment and exclaimed: “It’s that simple? Just two minutes?”

Over the years, as I accumulated comprehensive experience in the work, I always remember with a quiet smile my naive conclusion: “How it is simple!”

Givi Siproshvili for the readers of the ”Russian Art & Paris”.

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“Always wanted to show the character and state of the soul”

Interview of the artist Givi Siproshvili for the “Russian Art & Paris” journal.

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RA&P: – Givi Iraklievich, the twentieth century has already become history. What is most memorable for you?

Givi Siproshvili: – Looking back, it seems to me that the worst event was the fall of the Soviet Union. On the other hand, countries received their independence, and people their freedom. This includes the freedom to move around the world, and the happiness of developing an identity. This is wonderful!

RA&P: – Will the artists of the twentieth century influence the development of visual art in the future?

Givi Siproshvili: – In my opinion, not only old classical masters influence the formation of the relations with art. Artists such as Picasso, Dali, Malevich, Kandinsky, and Chagall will remain in demand in the future. I think that in modern day Russia, there are many outstanding artists, who will in the near future attain a worthy place in the world stage.

RA&P: – You have created colorful and memorable imagery. Is it possible to view your creative work as a continuation of the traditions of Bosch and Bruegel?

Givi Siproshvili: – To be honest, I always wanted my works to show the character and state of the human soul; this is probably where the influence of old masters on my work is visible. Many of my characters are fictitious, but arise from everyday observations in life, from live sketches.

RA&P: – You have many works of the portrait genre. Which would you like to note?

Givi Siproshvili: – I received greater joy from the portrait “Einstein”. I believe that in this work, I was able to convey a sense of purpose, energy, and the freedom of thought of a scientist, qualities which would help him make many discoveries. Of my recent works, in my opinion, interest arises towards the work named “New Neighbor”. This painting depicts the personality of the character and the relationship between two neighbors. Similarly, I have a dream to paint a portrait of the great Georgian singer Nani Bregvadze, but this dream still remains a dream.

RA&P: – Have their been failures in your long artistic career? And, to the contrary, which works do you consider the most meaningful?

Givi Siproshvili: – Life had rises as well as falls. One of these falls occurred when most of my completed works were stolen, around seventy paintings prepared for an exhibition. The crisis lasted for almost ten years, my paintbrushes had a good rest. But afterwards, little by little, everything returned to normal. Among the most interesting of my works, I consider the painting “Trinity”.

RA&P: – There are many female faces on your canvases. Which women attract you in life?

On June 25, 2012 by internet from Georgia.
Copyright by Russian Art & Paris.

ON EARTH AND IN HEAVEN
Why has it long been assumed that Russians and Georgians have much in common? These days, when relations between Russia and Georgia are minimal, Georgia lives in the heart of even those who have never been there. At fault here are the artists and the “deep and burning passion of a northerner for the south” as art critic and artist Alexander Benois wrote in the early 20th century. Artists never have easy fates, and the year of Givi Iraklievich Siproshvili’s birth – 1940, speaks for itself. In his seventies, the artist had to move to Russia, and not from any attraction towards moving. Growing up on the warm, bright, and gently land of Georgia, the artist does not separate himself from its culture, he is part of it; part of it in both past and present, he professes her moral laws, the high degree of his national temperament does not diminish with age.
• In view of sad circumstances, there are almost no works of his from the 70’s through 90’s, but a review of his works from the 2000’s gives a vivid understanding of the creative and life restlessness, his constant search for ways of beauty and truth. This is the search of a wise man and mature master. In no sense is he associated with the speculative and hasty search of his own “I”. In the creative way of this artist, one can feel the Eastern self-sufficiency of a person of an ancient culture.
• The earliest of his works – “Spring. Schoolgirl”, “Clown”, and “Echo” have varying pictorial and stylistic manners. They can contingently be called the starting points of several artistic cycles. Despite the difference in objectives, these works are united by the interaction of space and shape. The space of the artist’s painting is always tense, saturated; seems that as if by itself, it sculpts or carves the image. The space of the picture is formative, within it are new and unknown possibilities of representationalism, potential existences of shape, and the seed of its development.
• The artist’s palette can be as exceptionally colorful (“First Kiss”) as ascetically-restrained (“Veteran”, “Refugees of Abkhazia”). In these works, the theme of which is painfully experienced by the artist, the land and the people make up a single whole, a single flesh. The people, leaving or dying, dissolve and remain in it. The pictures Givi Siproshvili contain many details that are connecting threads between the temporal and the eternal, between the past and the future. The painting “When the Call Will Ring” is bitterly poetic and bright, where the transcendental world is attractive and luminous. Yet keeping its soul, the earthly sprout is even more brightly luminous. “Pirosmani’s Death” is inherently as much of a self-portrait as the “Self-Portrait. Hunting”, as if they are both fashioned from a single colorful dough. Self-portrait is also quietly present in purely formal solutions, such as “Melancholy”. With that said, the distant past, the real world, and the imaginary world permeate the artist’s soul, and become its imprint on the canvas.
• The technical side of the works of Givi Siproshvili is astonishing due to its wide diversity: somewhere it’s a large colorful plane, laid out with a palette knife (“Night Butterflies”), somewhere it’s a malleable, ductile smear, simulating the shape (“Evening Bells”). In some works there is a hard granular texture with colorful backings, embossing, scratching; it becomes precious and requires just a fine touch of a paintbrush for the birth of an image (“Rest,” “Roses”). Many techniques are the unique invention of the artist: “Kakhetian”, “Doctor and Patient”, “Two”. The artist’s work with texture gives his paintings a unique preciousness.
• No matter how interesting the techniques may be, neither they nor the craftiness makes the paintings of the artist Givi Siproshvili a striking phenomenon in visual arts. In his works – philosophical parables, live landscapes, fantasies, and still life – there is an idea, a soul, a broad emotional palette, and most importantly, love, without which the secret of art cannot be born.

by Irina Protopopova, art critic,
member of the Union of Artists of the Russian Federation.

“Einstein” Oil on Canvas. (50 x 50 cm)

Siproshvili Givi Iraklievich, a painter and graphic artist, was born in 1940 in Georgia. In 1971 he graduated from Tbilisi Academy of Fine Arts with a degree in painting. His teachers at the Academy of Fine Arts were well known artists as such Kornelli Sanadze, Koki Makharadze, Lapiashvili, Ucha Japaridze. Since 1974, he has been a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR and Georgia. Since 2000, he has been a member of International Federation of Artists (UNESCO).
In 2009 he received the “Talent and Vocation” award from the international alliance “Peacemaker” in the field of culture and of art. In 2009, he was recognized as an honorary citizen of the town of Forte dei Marmi in Italy, where he represented Russian art at the festival of Russian art and film “Maestro”, and was awarded a medal by the mayor.

EXHIBITIONS

Painting by Givi Siproshvili in the exhibition hall of the Salon “Art Capital” 2015. (Paris)

Painting by Givi Siproshvili in the exhibition hall of the Salon “Art en Capital” 2014. Painting “Attraction” received “Prix Reijinsha-2014″ award.

Painting by Givi Siproshvili in the exhibition hall of the Salon “Art en Capital” 2012. (Paris)

Russian spelling: Художник Гиви Сипрошвили, (Рязань)

2012: 07/01
CATEGORY: ARTISTS
JOURNAL
4 comments

Artist Rinat Sharafutdinov, (Magnitogorsk)

THE EXHIBITOR OF THE SALON “ART CAPITAL” 2012 – 2015

The workshop of the artist Rinat Sharafutdinov is located in the heart of the Magnitogorsk town. Within it is bright, quiet, and comfortable, with a pleasant smell of paint. There are books about his favorite artists on the shelves, and neatly stored canvases on the mezzanine.
Everything here predisposes a person to serious thoughtful work, which does not tolerate haste and disorder, external as well as internal. In a small industrial town in the Urals, located on the border between Europe and Asia, away from prying eyes and amidst silence, the art of Rinat Sharafutdinov was born. Federico Fellini once made a remarkable assertion that “true geniuses can only arise from provinces since the lack of impressions during childhood forces people to compensate for it with their imagination, and the greed of perception becomes hypertrophied in size”…
I hope that the readers of online journal “Russian Art & Paris” will be interested in getting acquainted with the works of an artist from Russia’s heartland. A new attitude, appropriate for our time, in which the territories of different cultures, civilizations, and religions are common to all of mankind, allows for the expansion of the horizons of art space. By enriching his own creative possibilities, any talented artist within this space can bring new life and contents, corresponding to his internal “I”, into old traditions. Rinat Sharafutdinov, with an inimitable individual style, is such an artist.

Marina Abramova

June 12, 2012

Rinat Sharafutdinov is a colorful and extraordinary artist. Though he was educated in the monumental genre, he has fruitful work in the classical genres of landscape, portrait, and still life. Knowing well the “grammar” of his profession, he concentrates his creative research on the “architectonics” of painting. The rational, clearly thought out, scenic system of an artist is not just an “intellectual game.” It is a search for harmony, of both color and structure. In his compositions, everything is thought through: expressiveness of lines, forms, appropriateness of rhythmic repetitions, balance, organization of space through color, interaction of all the painting elements as a single and self- sufficient organism. On every specific canvas, the presence of a genuine poetic tone can be felt. Amidst this tone, the artist possesses a special natural feeling of decoration.
• As one of the forms of understanding the surrounding world, the art of Rinat Sharafutdinov suggests not so much the reflection of visual interest, as the desire to escape from the everyday mundane standard to see color and shape as an absolute aesthetic category.
• Landscape compositions with a clear decorative attitude are subject to a special logic of constructing space. Much attention is paid to the expressiveness of the silhouette, the interaction of color and shape, planarity, and volume. Textured and energized painting of the foreground is often balanced by the straight line of the horizon. An artist’s glance is capable of a complex panoramic vision. The small figures of people, at first glance, are of secondary importance, however their presence creates a “pastoral corner” of tranquility among the commotion of color, forming live moving simplified volumes. The chromaticity of the palette reaches the limit of sensation, turning into a celebration of red, blue, or green. When compositions are made with a single soloing color, painting begins to tangibly sound. The viewer’s imagination is activated, engaging in some magical supersensible reality where there is no concept of time.
• In works on the eternal theme of the relationship between man and woman, color is brought to the highest level of richness and emotional tension. It becomes an open structural metaphor and carries with it an important burden: to symbolize passion, love. The form becomes a sign, and the space becomes even more conventional.
• For an artist, it is characteristic to convey a variety of emotional states: from thoughtful and quiet sadness, to frank sensuality and expression. His works are attractive not only for the poetic insight into the essence of the visual world, but also for the painting technique, the complex structure of the paint layer, the variety of “precious” colors (silver, golden, bronze, etc.), mystifyingly shimmering in color and light. In his search an artist does not limit himself to the reflections of the observed. He transforms natures forms, likening them to a symbol-sign, and connects components of the space into a single volume, reaching the utmost clarity in his compositional decisions. The artist’s main creative principle is treating the art form as an ever-changing reality.

by Marina Abramova,

The chief curator of the Magnitogorsk City Gallery, art critic,

member of the Union of Artists of the Russian Federation.

_____
The picture in the text:
“Two Graces in hat” (a fragment)
Pastel on paper. 65 x 50 cm.

Rinat Sharafutdinov was born in the city of Magnitogorsk in 1959. During 1975-1979 he studied at the Art College in the city of Sverdlovsk. In 1987 he graduated from Moscow Art-Industrial College (the former Stroganoff College) where he studied at the department of monumental and decorative art in the studio of professor A.Orlovsky. Rinat was also a student of professor F.Voloshko and professor S.Godyna. Rinat Sharafutdinov has been a member of the Union of Artists of the Russian Federation since 1993.

EXHIBITIONS

Painting by Rinat Sharafutdinov in the exhibition hall of the Salon “Art Capital” 2015. (Paris)

Painting by Rinat Sharafutdinov in the exhibition hall of the Salon “Art en Capital” 2012. (Paris)

Russian spelling: Художник Ринат Шарафутдинов, (Магнитогорск)

2012: 06/15
CATEGORY: ARTISTS
JOURNAL
6 comments

Artist Alexander Grishkevich, (Minsk)

THE “RUSSIAN ART & PARIS” INTRODUCING:

Out of the many teachers in my life, there was one, who did not satisfy the direct meaning of the word. Nevertheless there are two things, possibly the most important for me, that I heard from him.

First. Your work should look impressive from a distance. Therefore the compositional decision should be clear and precise. The sketch should be made the size of a matchbox. In this size already, the main artistic idea of two-dimensional space should be readable. Second. There are no objects in the painting. The painting has components. A cup and a cup’s shadow are of equal value in the painting. Today, for me, the cup’s shadow has greater meaning than the cup itself.

Alexander Grishkevich for the readers of the ”Russian Art & Paris”.

Maksimilian Voloshin has poetic comparisons that “artists are the eyes of mankind” and “the artist, first of all, is the musician”. Every artist, as is known, has his own view on the world, and his own music sounds in his heart. Before Alexander Grishkevich is emerging a completely different picture of the world, different from what we are used to, and there is music, which his heart responds to. The artist is realizing these feelings in the picturesque compositions. He is transforming the real objects into the ideal ones. Before us emerges an image of the Other World, which often differs strikingly from the familiar one. These images are the product of another self-consciousness, other impressions and other perceptions. And consequently the aim of the viewer consists in understanding this “otherness”. For the purpose of coming closer in any measure to comprehending his attitude, it is necessary to understand how he realizes space and time, the real world and the invented world, and at last, his own person. Even the most varied aspects of the artistic picture of the world, are ultimately directly or indirectly interconnected. In the achievement of such synthesis, I believe there is a hidden goal that an artist sets for himself. It is a leitmotif of his figurative-art approach. This approach is not always distinctly realized or clearly formulated by him. Sometimes it remains like an unattainable horizon, which the artist aspires to. However, he always leaves us a reference point, which although not always clear, is helpful in reaching the path of understanding.
• Alexander Grishkevich is realizing, that he cannot accurately depict even part of a world which has passed. This “depicting” is inevitably fraught with inevitably fraught with distortions and modernization. Therefore in his works, everything is sufficiently concrete and clearly expressed. The artist builds his ideal world on the basis of real visual impressions. This world is sterile and clean; its forms, light and color relations are precise and verified. There is no place for accident and chaos. Everything is subordinated to the author’s logic and harmony. In this ideal world there is no place for the human being, he is not the participant of an event, he is only the observer. In spite of its reality, this world is fantastic by its inherent nature. Within it, by the will of the artist, objects obtain geometrical structure, while remaining natural formations as well.
• In his compositions, although they are painted in a realistic manner, color exists as though by itself. It is self-sufficient at heart and is perceived as an independent reality even though it is limited to a contour of concrete subjects. There are precise color spot borders of subject forms of the picture with various voice-frequency shades where color gets independent sounding. Color has texture and depth, it mysteriously flickers, strengthening the unreality represented. The surface of the picture has expressive qualities, it is the creation of the artist, and simultaneously with color, is the nature of the picture. In each concrete case, color for A.Grishkevich is not simply paint, it is something living with figurative and poetic language, that is capable to express an essence of the artist. He is improvising, grouping color spots, giving these graphic components their forms, which are dictated to him by his imagination and vision. A.Grishkevich’s color forms are firm and constant. There is no display of external dynamics but you can feel the latent pressure by just looking at them. In this connection we can understand that the drawing is very important for him, where both line and contour express his feelings as much as color. Compositions are often repeated, but other color decision makes them different with regards to the figurative and emotional perception. When we are standing in front of his pictures we are free to invent the images, to change the color decision of a picture, and to transform the elements of a composition. In doing so, it becomes our imagination, which may be rather far removed from the artist’s imagination, but nevertheless called forth by his painting.
• The canvas is a space where the artist lives, displaying himself and his world regardless of what he paints. Painting is a live dialogue of the artist with a surface of the canvas, carrying him into another world, into another measure. The basis of the picturesque language for A.Grishkevich is the two-dimensional plane awoken by the color and impressions of a diverse, multifaceted life. He is very rational and strict, not allowing the art statement to be spontaneous or emotionally ingenuous. The picture for him is an exit from three-dimensional space into a two-dimensional one. The feeling of a surface and the feeling of color are the mysterious beginnings, which determine the talent of the painter. The artist transfers himself from life’s macrocosm to the microcosm of the picture on a surface of a canvas. A game of shades, lines, planes, forms, volumes, and texture is inherent to the artist’s painting. This is the goal of his art, though ultimately the main aspiration is to make us better than we are.

by Valery Zhuk, Ph.D. in Art History

Alexander Grishkevich was born in Molodechno, Republic of Belarus, in 1961. He recieved his professional education in Minsk Art College named after A. Glebov (1981) and the Belarusian State Theatre and Art Institute, now the Belarusian Academy of Arts (1987). The artist trained at the creative academic studios of the USSR Academy of Arts, under the guidance of academician M.Savitsky (1991-1994). Alexander Grishkevich is a member of the Artists’ Union of Belarus (1996)

Since 1984, he has participated in art exhibitions and competitions. The works of artist Alexander Grishkevich are in the National Art Museum of Belarus, the Museum of Modern Art (Minsk, Belarus), the Art Gallery of Svetlogorsk (Belarus), in the Unechskoy Art Gallery (Russia), and in the funds of the Ministry of culture of the Republic of Belarus.

Russian spelling: Художник Александр Гришкевич (Минск)

2012: 06/01
CATEGORY: ARTISTS
JOURNAL
4 comments

International Artists Promotion Group

Iconographers Drobot, (Paris)

Artist Aleksandr Fayvisovich, (New York)

Artist Yuri Larin, (1936 – 2014)

“Russian Art & Paris” Art Show. Summer’12

Artist Anastasia Vostrezova, (Saint Petersburg)

Editorial: Three Months at a Glance.

Artist Andrey Shustov, (Naberezhnye Chelny)

Artist Givi Siproshvili, (Ryazan)

Artist Rinat Sharafutdinov, (Magnitogorsk)

Artist Alexander Grishkevich, (Minsk)

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