European artists create their individual “Image of Russia”

 

Armen Apresyan

Oct 5, 2012 16:14 Moscow Time

1/3

Marcos Marin "Putin"

© Photo: Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Expatriates and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo)

16 young artists from Europe have spent a week getting acquainted with life in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Their impressions of the two cities are expressed through painting. The results of their creative efforts are on display at the Russian Academy of Arts as part of the international “Image of Russia” project.

The Image of Russia project started at the end of September, when artists from France, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium and Germany came to Moscow. For a week they were exhibiting in the capital, and then they set out to learn about life in our country. After numerous excursions, meetings with colleagues and ordinary residents of Moscow and St. Petersburg, the artists recorded their personal impressions on canvas.

^{Mary Ali "Gogol" © Photo: Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Expatriates and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo)}

The exhibition at the Academy of Arts produces a mixed impression. On the one hand, the work of contemporary European painters is just their own personal view of Russia and it provides opportunities for Russian viewers to gain some insight into the way foreigners their country’s main Metropolitan cities. On the other hand, many of the works are noteworthy for their lack of originality and, however harsh it may sound, not too high a level of skill.

Russian academicians were the first to see the results of the European artists’ work; and their response could best be described as restrained. At the opening of the exhibition, Russian Academy of Arts President, Zurab Tsereteli spoke mostly about a new way of thinking and not about pictorial techniques.

^{Simona Hollinger "The Fountain" © Photo: Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Expatriates and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo)}

City landscapes, portraits of heroes of Russian literature (Pushkin and Gogol), abstract paintings and various examples of cubist rehashing, that’s how the European artists portrayed their thoughts on Russia. Realism was scarce; perhaps, the only painting in a classical style was the mystical work “Vasilisa the Wise” bySpanish artist, Arantzazu Martinez.

Marcos Marin saw Russia through the person of the President. As the artist says, for him, the portrait of a national leader is not just a picture of a politician but also a “component of the very image of a country”.

Diogo Navarro, from Portugal, exhibited some very interesting landscapes, which are clearly influenced by the British classic, William Turner. For his Moscow and St. Petersburg diptych he did not confine himself to the sole use of paint: he also incorporated clay, whitewash, and even cement, which some workers on the street shared with him. “Now a part of your country is physically present in my diptych,” says the artist.

Russia has clearly presented itself in very different ways to each of the artists. One portrayed it as a fiery-red old woman; another was inspired to create a Golden fountain, a sort of 21st century’s cornucopia. Visitors are certain to draw their own conclusions and will have different opinions about the works of the European artists, but it cannot be denied that, whatever the results, such a creative attempt to experience and express the essence of a country is itself an interesting endeavor.