"The space of the spirit and the time of the tattoo". Exhibition of works by Karina Nazarova

The Russian Academy of Arts presents an exhibition of works by the Moscow painter, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Arts Karina Nazarova "The space of the spirit and the time of the tattoo." The exhibition includes about 30 works created over the past few years. Works on biblical subjects, canvases from the author’s "Shakespearian", picturesque images of the present era, still lifes, portraits represent the main lines of the master’s work. United by a given theme, they are both a continuation and another aspect of the dialogue between the artist and the viewer.

The name of Karina Nazarova is well known to the modern audience and professionals. The artist’s personal exhibitions, which have been held over the years, have revealed a deeply intellectual, thinking, multifaceted master with a high pictorial culture and a keen sense of time. K. Nazarova was born in 1949 in Baku. In 1973 she graduated from the Moscow Polygraphic Institute. Since 1977 - a member of the painting section of the Moscow Union of Artists. The master’s works are in the collections of museums in Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, in private collections in the UK, USA, Ireland and Poland. Over the years of her creative work, her pictorial style has been formed, expressive and recognizable, combining the characteristic laconicism and expression of the composition, a kind of dynamics and rhythm of lines, a sharp plastic contrast.

Researchers note that K. Nazarova’s appeal to biblical images and tragic heroes of Shakespeare, to the great creative personalities of the past and the inhabitants of the modern city is a deeply conscious and, at the same time, an intuitive choice of the artist between the often faceless and primitive environment of today’s clerks and bearers of great passions, acute moral collisions, courageous struggles with their own destiny.

In recent years, she has created a number of significant works on gospel subjects - the compositions "Annunciation", "Face", "Pieta", "Apostle Peter", "Kiss of Judas", "Joseph and His Brothers", "Christ and Pilate", "Meeting Mary and Elizabeth "and a magnificent series of" angels "in tune with her. An appeal to this topic for an artist is an affirmation of the lofty and eternal, unshakable spiritual constants: asceticism, love, goodness, selfless service, universal salvation, the search for the divine in man. This also gives rise to a special artistic language, expressive means, plasticity of figures, space, color and light, a kind of slowed down rhythm of a picture, a monumental fresco of an image. The works of this cycle dominate the exposition, becoming its emotional and meaningful tuning fork.

Karina Nazarova’s Shakespearian is also a noticeable and important thematic layer in her work. From the characters of the great author, the artist chooses, in the main, powerful figures, archetypal personalities. As in the biblical cycle, the works often feature plot duets saturated with tragic emotions. The author is good at multi-figured scenes, as in one of the versions of "King Lear", the work "Richard the Third". In this cycle, the line of theatricality is strengthened, a frank illusion of stage action. It is no coincidence and compositionally that these canvases are created according to the laws of scenography, the background elements of the landscape with medieval castles are stage backdrops, a kind of colorful decoration.

Karina Nazarova knows how to see well and accurately feel the realities of our time. This is confirmed by her new canvases on the theme of "Break-dance", variations of the plot "Tattoo Time". Here is a completely different type - dehumanized, "uniform", surprisingly faceless, erased and at the same time paradoxically alive, stable, assertive. These works have a different morphology of symbols, gestures, body movements, physical characteristics.

Among K. Nazarova’s favorite genres are compositional portraits of Van Gogh, El Greco, Giotto, Egon Schiele, whose images in her artistic interpretation become a kind of pictorial study of creative destiny and historical time. Deep meaningfulness is also characteristic of the author’s still lifes, in which the world of things becomes a reflection and a symbol of personal searches, life priorities. She was given to “hear” time, personality and find expressive means in tune with her feelings.

The exposition, built on the interaction of several thematic lines, allows not only to comprehend the problems of the author’s work, but also to feel it as a “pulsation” of pictorial and plastic solutions. The works of K. Nazarova with their powerful energy, sharp, dramatic vision of the world immediately attract the eye, make you think and empathize. By immersing the viewer in the author’s picturesque world, leading through the epochs, the elements of human passions, they convince of the enduring significance of genuine human values, affirming the primacy of harmony and love.

The material is based on an article by art critic Nikita Ivanov.