"Dancing school". Exhibition of works by Mikhail Dronov

October 17, 2017 at 16.00 in the exhibition halls of the Russian Academy of Arts (Prechistenka, 21) opens an exhibition of works by one of the leading masters of contemporary Russian sculpture, Honored Artist of Russia, academician of the Russian Academy of Arts Mikhail Dronov, “Dance School”. The exposition will comprise about 100 works by masters of different years, representing the author’s more than 30 years of creative career, saturated with plastic finds, figurative revelations, and at the same time the brightest page of modern sculpture art.

The work of M. Dronov has become an integral part of modern life. His sculpture is in the collections of the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, many other Russian and foreign museums, in private collections in Russia, Europe and America.

The monumental works of the author are installed in Russian cities and abroad. On the Rembrandt Square in Amsterdam there is a sculptural group “Night Watch”, which M. Dronov performed together with A. Taratynov based on the famous canvas. Residents of Moscow are familiar with Dronov’s composition “Alexander and Natalie” in front of the Great Ascension Church at the Nikitsky Gate, where Pushkin and Goncharova were married, and images of the Right Prince Gabriel Pskovsky and the Monk Varlaam Khutynsky on the window arch of the southern facade of Christ the Savior Cathedral. Two more monumental works by the sculptor are presented in St. Petersburg: “Peter I” at Pulkovo Airport and “St. Peter” in Alexander Park.

Mikhail Dronov (b. 1956) belongs to a generation of artists born in the years of the “thaw” - a time of socio-political and aesthetic turning point, who confidently declared themselves in the last decade of the twentieth century. He continues the dynasty of Moscow sixties sculptors Viktor Dronov and Lilia Evzykova. In 1980 he graduated from the Moscow State Art Institute named after V.I. Surikov (workshop of prof. M.F. Baburin). And already in 1984, the first works of Mikhail Dronov were acquired in the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery - the author entered the artistic context so confidently with his imagery and his plastic language

M. Dronov is one of those artists who, amid the multifaceted art of the late twentieth century, in the chaos of the perestroika years and the reigning permissiveness, passed the difficult test of freedom at the beginning of their formation and gained their creative voice, while maintaining the value of high professionalism. This galaxy of masters took upon themselves, voluntarily or involuntarily, the mission of preserving and developing national culture in the new century.

The work of M. Dronov is characterized by a variety of topics, plastic interpretations. A scholar and thinker, he experiences in his works both the history of mankind and the history of an individual person, invariably referring to the particular through the prism of the universal. Dronov’s works “are characterized by a paradoxical combination of a strict plastic form and an aggravated game, ironic principle, brought to the grotesque. The artist does not limit himself to any one formal technique. His "Crucifixion", "Dancer", "Swamp" are quite comparable with traditional European plastic. The deep inner expression of the works “It’s Me, Lord…” and “The Prodigal Son” is expressed through a laconic, reduced to the sign form. The poetry of the reliefs “Morning”, “Wanderer” is conveyed through an impressionistic plastic metaphor of space.

M.V. Dronov. Swamp. 2008. Bronze, stone. 112x105x30 cm

M.V. Dronov. Morning. 2011. Bronze. 55x49 cm

M.V. Dronov. Dancer. 2001. Bronze. 161x60x35 cm

M.V. Dronov. It’s me, Lord… 2002. Bronze. 55x55x35 cm

And yet, about his understanding of the world, about his attitude towards people, God and himself - and this is what Dronov’s art is dedicated to - the artist most often speaks in the classical language of sculpture. ”

The audience will meet with an amazing, original author. Each of his new work, each exhibition is not only a new emphasis in his work, but also the discovery of new meanings in the audience’s consciousness, a new emphasis in our own worldview.

MV Dronov is a laureate of the Moscow All-Russian and International Competitions in Monumental Art. He was awarded the Silver Medal of VDNKh of the USSR, the Diploma in the nomination "The Best Work of 1988 of the Moscow Union of Artists" by the Moscow Union of Artists, the First Prize and the Diploma of the Quadriennial of Sculpture of 1988 in Riga, the Commemorative Medal "For Participation in the Restoration of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior" of the Russian Academy of Arts, the Gold Medal of the Russian Academy of Arts, Gold Medal CXP.

The exhibition runs until November 5, 2017.

M.V. Dronov. Caprichos. 1989. Bronze. 70x15x20 cm

M.V. Dronov. The last day of Pompeii I. 1998. Bronze. 86x98x45 cm

M.V. Dronov. Fisherman. 1984. Bronze. 30x8x14 cm

Dancing school. 2016. Bronze. 65x35x30 cm