"The ship is sailing." Exhibition of works by Boris Belsky

The Russian Academy of Arts, the Museum "Creative Workshop of S. T. Konenkov" present an exhibition of works by the Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts Boris Feliksovich Belsky "The Ship Sails". It is held within the framework of the museum’s long-term exhibition project "Dialogue with a Master". The exposition includes graphic sheets and notebooks of the artist.

In the author’s graphic works dedicated to the fleet, the ghostly silhouettes of fantastic ships unexpectedly sprout up the spiers of Gothic cathedrals, and the gloomy phantoms of an unknown flotilla are full of inner tension and dark energy in the contrast of black and white. The scholastic sophisticated, disturbing graphics of Boris Belsky, located next to the emotional sculpture of Sergei Konenkov, provide a unique opportunity to plunge into worlds full of fantastic images and plots. Notebooks are a separate part of the exhibition, representing the artist’s imaginary study, where working notebooks filled with drawings and texts provide an opportunity to observe the master’s creative process.

The author about the concept of the exhibition: “After achieving, more or less successful, 60 years, sorting through the papers and archiving what was found in collages, I realized that the basis of most of the works, even silk-screen printing on metal 2.5 x 1.25 m in size, there are notebooks and diaries, or even pieces of paper by the phone…

New Year’s silk-screen cards grew out of books (some collect them, which pleases). Then everything was qualified according to the designs and models of the ships of the First Squadron (another large project was open until 12/05/2021 in the halls of the Russian Academy of Arts).

Another aspect is the title of one, in my opinion, of the best and most philosophical (although they are all such) films of Federico Fellini. We are all on the ship, and it is sailing, fortunately.

In the process of work, it seemed to me that the similarity of the ship’s architecture and the structures of cathedrals almost struck. It turned out that this has long been known to scientists and designers. But I’m not a shipbuilder, you can’t build any of this. There is a historical anecdote: Kaiser Wilhelm (the one who is the cousin of Nicholas II) was very fond of drawing projects of ships and did it with great care. Some of the admirals ironically remarked: an excellent ship, it’s a pity it won’t sail.

Maybe it’s for the best. The fact that you see the "ships of the soul" and they float (go). There are many ships and cathedrals of the soul in these halls. "

Boris Feliksovich Belsky was born in Moscow, in the family of graphic artist F. I. Belsky and A. A. Agamirova. In 1984 he graduated from the Faculty of Graphics of the Moscow State Academic Art Institute. V. I. Surikov, where he studied with N. A. Ponomarev, B. A. Uspensky, N. L. Voronkov. Then he improved his professional skills in international printing centers: F. Maserel School (Netherlands), Glasgow Print Studio (England), Carcaran Art School and Rudgers University (USA). Since 1980, he has been participating in zonal, republican and all-Union exhibitions, in expositions of Soviet and Russian graphics abroad, international Biennials of graphics (Sapporo, Maastricht, Chibo, Busan, Kaliningrad). Personal exhibitions of Boris Belsky were successfully held in the halls of the Russian Academy of Arts, in the A. Shchusev Museum of Architecture. In 1993 B.F.Belsky became the artistic director of the Creative silk-screen printing workshop of the Russian Academy of Arts in Moscow. The artist is the organizer of silk-screening master classes for students of the Moscow State Academic Art Institute. V.I.Surikov and St. IE Repin, students of the MAHL of the Russian Academy of Arts and a number of other educational institutions of the country. He is a member of the Commission on Graphics of the Board of the WTO SXR, an expert on printing technologies of the State Museum and Exhibition Center ROSPHOTO of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, a member of the All-Russian Association of Art Critics (AIS), a participant in scientific conferences of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Arts. BF Belsky conducts active social and patronage work on the ships of the Black Sea and Northern fleets. In Severomorsk he organized a large exposition of modern graphics, which he donated to the city. The author’s works are in the collections of museums in many Russian cities, foreign museums,in many private collections.

Based on an article by Svetlana Bobrova, head of the Memorial Museum “Creative Workshop of S. T. Konenkov”.