"Default…". Exhibition of works by Valery Mishin

The Russian Academy of Arts presents an exhibition of works by the honorary member of the Russian Academy of Arts Valery Andreevich Mishin, which he called "By default…". The exhibition presents more than 70 paintings and graphic works of recent years, revealing the fullness of the world outlook of a person of the XXI century. As "by default" we accept the gift of life, so "by default" in the artist’s works the delight of being and the piercing charm of the passing moment are revealed to us.

In the work of this master, a passion for analysis and formal searches were combined with a philosophical view of the world around him. He developed the method of "Residual Realism", in which the main component of the work is a print on canvas or a sheet of paper of a real object. The creative direction is based on a combination of traditional graphic techniques - the so-called "monoprint". Mishin traces the roots of Residual Realism to rock paintings of primitive people and even to prints of prehistoric animals in petrified geological rocks.

Valery Mishin, one of the apostles of modern visual culture in St. Petersburg, has long established a reputation for being an independent and original artist, striving to embody his own idea of the world in art, relying on creative intuition and professional self-awareness that has been developed over the years. He was educated in Sverdlovsk from the junior futurist Pavel Petrovich Khozhatelev, and then in Leningrad from the son of the world of art Gleb Aleksandrovich Savinov. He is known for his graphic cycles, paintings and illustrations for many and many classic works of Russian and world literature - from Song of Songs to poems by Tsvetaeva, Mayakovsky, Shimborskaya, prose by Pushkin, Karamzin, Zamyatin, Granin.

The artist is complex and multifaceted, he sees the world with special vision and the images embodied by him make the viewer sympathize and admire. The sharpness of form and the depth of comprehending the strength, expressiveness of language and the very nature of painting are two elements of the artist’s creativity.

The natural basis of Mishin’s creativity is the idea of u200b u200bthe picture as a limited space inhabited by living objects and spiritualized characters. He is a researcher of the objective world, which becomes for him an object of poetry, philosophical comprehension or ironic examination, an occasion for the play of creative imagination and pictorial-graphic experimentation.

Mishin is a consistent adherent of the classical professional approach, which relies on perfect mastery of technique, a deep understanding of the features of the artistic material and the maximum use of the possibilities hidden in it.

Puppet clowns and “naked” rag dolls, cartoon fish, teapots, coffee pots and, of course, playing cards, including his favorite house of cards, often become “heroes” of Mishin’s plot paintings and still lifes. Placed in a conventional "toy" space, they are all written in a funny flat manner and bright colors that make them related to the samples of children’s creativity and naive art.

Valery Mishin’s art belongs to modern Petersburg culture, it is deeply imbued with its atmosphere, mythology and aesthetics, it is built on familiar images, consonances and rhythms.

Valery Mishin is known as a brilliant easel painter, illustrator and creator of unique author’s books, several of which will be on display.

Mishin Valery Andreevich - painter, graphic artist, honorary member of the Russian Academy of Arts (2014), member of the Union of Artists of Russia, member of the International Federation of UNESCO Artists, member of the International Federation of Russian Writers. Graduated from the Sverdlovsk Art School (1962), the Art School. V. I. Mukhina, department of monumental and decorative painting (1968). In 1960-70. attended the Literary Association under the newspaper "Smena" in Leningrad, the Literary Association of Tatiana Gnedich in the city of Pushkin.

Participant of more than 300 exhibitions in Russia and abroad, including more than 30 personal ones (since 1966). He is engaged in painting, object, installation, easel and book graphics and sculpture, writes poetry and prose.

Works are presented in the collections: Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin, Moscow; Moscow Museum of Modern Art; The State Hermitage; State Russian Museum; All-Russian Museum of A.S. Pushkin; Museum of the History of St. Petersburg; Museum of Urban Sculpture of St. Petersburg; Kaliningrad State Art Gallery; Museum and Art Gallery, Bristol; Zimmerly Art Museum, New Brunswick, New Jersy; Gutenberg-Museum, Mainz; Museum of the House of Humor and Satire, Gabrovo; Cremona Civic Museum, etc., as well as in private collections.