Alexander Jikia. 40 years in service

The Russian Academy of Arts and the Krokin Gallery present the exhibition project "40 Years in Service" by the famous Moscow graphic artist, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Arts Alexander Rollanovich Jikia. The exhibition, deployed in nine academic halls, presents more than 100 graphic works, installations and objects from the most iconic series.

As conceived by the curators, the exhibition demonstrates a complex combination of autonomous statements, rethought by the author in a single semantic space. The viewer is exposed to art, paradoxical in its content and plastic solution, with a unique author’s perception of reality. The name of the project refers to 1983, when Jikia first showed his work to the public. Then, while studying at the Moscow Architectural Institute, he took part in the exhibition, presenting his work “Waving the Hare”, which, according to the artist himself, became a kind of logo of his creative activity of that time, and perhaps of his entire work.

The author recalls this period as follows: “In the summer of 1982, I made many drawings on the theme “Farewell to Childhood”. Actually, there was no such name, there was just a theme. I once had a big plush rabbit. This is what the “lyrical hero” is waving, symbolically saying goodbye to childhood.

Like most artists, Jikia has been looking for himself, his creative self for a long time, actively traveling around countries and continents. He was born in Tbilisi, lived in Europe, worked in North America and Turkey, where he taught the basics of design and architecture at the Bilkent University in the capital.

An important theme of the author’s art was the Minoan and ancient Greek culture, which the master got acquainted with in the university library, which is rightfully considered one of the best in Turkey. For several years he studied reproductions of ancient Greek vase paintings and Cretan-Mycenaean seals, copying and interpreting them. The graphic artist admits that he felt like a translator who discovered an ancient unread library, who is in a hurry to translate the most interesting for himself into modern language.

In a 2009 interview, Jikia said: “I really got used to the world of Mycenaean seals, I was friends with lions, dragons, griffins and dogs, and I admired the amazing Mycenaean men jumping over bulls and women carrying snakes and breastfeeding griffins and lions. In a couple of years, I drew more than 300 drawings on the theme of the Cretan-Mycenaean seals. It seemed to me that I really understood the artists who worked more than 3000 years ago, and that maybe I was one of them.

Among the favorite motifs, to the interpretation of which he refers, an important place is occupied by the myth of the Minotaur, close to many artists - just remember Picasso and Borges. In the works of Jikia, the division of reality into reality and fiction is rather arbitrary, and legends, dreams and poetry are inseparable from each other. He manages to immerse himself in the mysterious world of a bygone era, a forgotten civilization and display it through the prism of his original artistic vision.

The graphic artist is also trying himself in the field of book illustration - in 2021 he showed a series based on an early edition of the fairy tale The Little Humpbacked Horse from the 1830s. Based on the stylistically diverse material of that time, the artist recreated in his illustrations some details of everyday life and characteristic characters. Jikia says about the images that inspired him: “They carry the character of ancient, archaic art, ornamentalism and are filled with radiant love of life, which is so lacking in our time.” He transformed folk motifs into modern works with the help of cut black and white silhouettes, in some cases deliberately distorting and adding author’s details, but trying not to lose the mood of the original works.

The master is experimenting with technique, referring not only to the paper he is accustomed to, but also to other materials. Using metal, wood and mirrors, he creates installations that capture his ideas in three-dimensional form. This skill of three-dimensional thinking, according to the artist himself, was facilitated by architectural education and an in-depth study of descriptive geometry. Some of his figurative objects and installations will be presented to the public as part of an academic project.

The works of Alexander Jikia are always recognizable, despite the variety of themes, forms and techniques that he refers to. His work cannot be attributed to any of the existing trends or directions of contemporary art, he is an artist who follows a special path. It is authentic, and, perhaps, one of the few standing at the origins of a new cultural paradigm.