"Awakening". Pastels by artist Vasily Vdovin

In the exhibition hall of fine arts of the Volga branch of the Russian Academy of Arts from April 17 to 27, 2018, a landmark exhibition for the artist is held, a report on the nearly 30-year period of the most fruitful period of the master’s work.

The exhibition in the exhibition hall "Lavrushinsky 15" shows a whole layer in the work of Vasily Vdovin using the pastel technique. Awakening is a symbol of eternal renewal and the joy of knowing the world through the eyes of the artist. This is the anniversary exhibition of the master. He turns 60 years old, of whom he is 45 years in the profession, since at 15 he entered the art school and since then has not parted with creativity. After graduating from the Moscow Higher Industrial School of Arts (formerly Stroganovskoe), the Academy is now named after S.G. Stroganova in 1985, Vasily devoted many years to graphic design, but never parted with easel art.

The exhibition features about 30 large pastels. These are portraits and plot portrait compositions. The artist works with oil pastels mainly on black paper, as he believes that on a black background the color sounds more rich and expressive. And the pictures can be, as dramatic as life-affirming, joyful. But the main thing for Vasily is that his works do not leave the audience indifferent.

The first paintings painted by Vasily Vdovin pastel relate to 1991. This year is remembered by everyone as the year of the collapse of the USSR and the collapse of all the foundations and traditions of the collapsed state. That year, of course, there were very conflicting emotions - people waited for freedom and the opportunity to see the world with their own eyes, but on the other hand, unemployment, lack of money, and obscure prospects for life arose. What does capitalism taste like? What awaits new generations, and Vasily had a son in 1991, just in the summer in the days of the collapse of the country.

So the first series of pastels appeared under the title “Deadly Sins”. Seven paintings on the name of mortal sins according to biblical scripture. These are harsh paintings with reflections on the eternal themes of good and evil: love of money, gluttony, pride, fornication, envy, anger, despondency. Under Soviet ideology, there was practically no place for such reasoning, and the artist plunged headlong into the new plastic of understanding the world.

I must say that in the last period of the existence of the USSR, Vdovin was a completely successful Moscow designer. In 1988, he became the author of the advertising style of the Reagan-Gorbachev Summit “SUMMIT-88”. In 1989, the GORBY club was presented at the Bolshoi Theater, and the author of the Gorby logo and stage design was also the young artist-designer Vasily Vdovin.

After all, Mikhail Gorbachev began with the ideas of perestroika and freedom. And all this collapsed overnight, and a new world came: speculators and traders became the heroes of the new time. Vasily did several work as a designer for the new owners of the world, earned money and even bought the first car. But these works did not bring satisfaction, the young artist then thought seriously about the calling of the creator, about the meaning of the artist’s life and the significance of the profession itself.

So pastels "Deadly sins" appeared. At the same time, a series of pastels “The entire royal army” was painted. Five sheets on the topic of power and rulers. King, princess, jester, executioner and soldier. These are the heroes of the work of Vasily in this series of pastels. In both cycles, the artist paints in large formats on black backgrounds. The color is aggressively tense. Forms are exaggerated and distorted. The images are defiantly expressive. But Vasily never reached formalism and distortion for the sake of effect. His work is the search for a powerful means to convey a complex and dramatic imagery.

A cycle of pastel work in the field of social art was also created. A large composition “Hammer and Sickle”, paintings “Prima” and “Freedom on Barrikadnaya”. These are paintings-reflections on the revolution in Russia, on the cycle of times and the essence of what is happening. The triptych “Lord” also dates back to this time.

Thus ended the 20th century. And a new era began. By the way, for someone it’s imperceptible, but for people who think it’s clear why more stable times have come. In the 2000s, Vasily passed the school of work of the head in large structures of television and publishing. Life was a little better and the theme of paintings also took a different direction. After working as an art director at various publishing houses, Vdovin travels a lot and writes life-affirming stories in watercolor and oil. Pastels painted dozens of portraits and nudes. Especially expressive are the nudes from the series “Nu-Ances. The basic Instinct". Very accurate and expressive "Portrait of a father." Subtle in color and graceful in composition pastels on the theme “Ladies of Eras”. The master works a lot. Behind him are more than 50 solo exhibitions in Russia and abroad.

Vasily Vdovin is busy with public work. For several years he is a volunteer director of the exhibition hall “In the House of Nashchokin” VOOPIiK. V. Vdovin honorary member of the jury of the “Assembly of folk crafts” under the auspices of the newspaper “Evening Moscow” and “Moscow House of Nationalities”, corresponding member of the Eurasian Academy of Television and Radio.

Vdovin is engaged in a lot of pedagogical work in his creative studio. Prepares students for admission to art universities. Constantly organizes open-airs for artists in Russia and abroad. Vasily Vdovin was awarded the Gold Medal of the Creative Union of Artists of Russia, Gratitude of the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation. In 2013, V. Vdovin was awarded the Gratitude of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin “For Merits in the Field of Culture”.