"Little painting" from the master of monumental works Ivan Lubennikov

MOSCOW. In the exhibition hall of the "Open Club", located on the street. Spiridonovka, house 9/2, November 7, an exhibition of paintings by Ivan Lubennikov began work. The author of the exhibition, called "Painting of Small Size", is better known as a monumental artist, whose name is associated with many architectural decisions of urban space.

Several metro stations in the capital owe their design to Ivan Lubennikov. Of the recent works, the Slavyansky Boulevard station, which has become the most beautiful among the new buildings of the Moscow metro, stands out especially. Thanks to the idea of designing the Taganka Theater, invented by Ivan Leonidovich, the old building, built in the 19th century, made up a single ensemble with a new building erected in the eighties.

The opened exhibition became an opportunity to acquaint the public with another line of creativity of the People’s Artist of the Russian Federation Ivan Lubennikov. For those who are unfamiliar with the artist’s paintings, it’s not very clear why the exhibition has such a name. The canvases included in the exhibition are not miniatures.

However, if you know that among the works performed by Ivan Leonidovich, there are rarely works less than two meters in size, then when you see twenty paintings placed in the space of a small hall, it becomes clear that this is really a "small painting".

The paintings in the hall were painted over the past 10 years. Among the artist’s works there are no paintings written from nature, but his works are not fantasies. Lubennikov simply has the ability to embody on his canvases his ideas about the people and the space surrounding him.

The artist has many imitators, but at any exhibition his works are recognizable at first sight.

Ludmila Trautmane © Gallerix.ru