Exhibition of People’s Artist of Russia Vitaly Smagin "Legends"

On February 17, 18 and 19, 2017, residents of the Angara region will be able to visit for free a personal exhibition of the People’s Artist of Russia Vitaly Smagin in the Irkutsk “V. Bronstein Gallery”. The doors of the exhibition halls will be open to all comers from 11 to 20 hours every day.

From January 27 to March 12, 2017 in the Irkutsk "V. Bronstein Gallery" will be an exhibition of People’s Artist of Russia Vitaly Smagin "Legends". The outstanding master passed away a little over a year ago, in December 2015, leaving a unique creative heritage, part of which will be presented in the new exhibition in the form of 19 paintings and 12 watercolor paintings.

Vitaly Smagin

The work of Vitaly Georgievich Smagin is a vivid and distinctive phenomenon in the artistic life of Siberia and the country as a whole. The art of the master is difficult to fit into any style framework, its range as an artist is wide: from easel works to monumental mosaics, murals, stained-glass windows and tapestries. However, Vitaly Smagin is rightly considered the forefather of the avant-garde painting of Irkutsk, highlighting the decorative and monumental canvases. They reveal his bright authorial style, where deep philosophical images are expressed by the rhythm of color spots, the bold transformation of forms and their stylization.

V. Smagin. Father Olkhon.

The new exposition will truly reveal one of the main topics in the artist’s work - myths and traditions of the peoples of the Baikal region. Throughout his life, he especially emphasized it for himself: “Legends, legends, uligers reveal the multicolored world of our ancestors. They are comparable to the child’s clean, clear gaze, a gaze filled with sincere faith in good powers, which makes it possible to calmly dream and admire the endless light of life. I turn to myth not as a picture illustrating an oral narrative. “I would like my work through painting, color, through painting plastic to convey the good start of man.”

V. Smagin. Morning Pribaikalye.

Vitaly Smagin’s painting is the result of many years of studying history, ethnography, and special literature, coupled with the artist’s rare talent and work. In his unique manner, the artist was able not only to imagine, but also to interpret ancient legends and tales with a high culture, putting new modern meanings into each plot. “I love it when the work tells something to the viewer“ not on the forehead ”, but contains a secret that the artist himself is trying to solve, and the audience is involuntarily captured by this secret,” said Vitaly Smagin.

Tickets cost 150 rubles (for adults), 50 rubles (for children 3-18 years old) and 50 rubles (for preferential categories of citizens).