Exhibition of works by Victor Kalinin. Painting, Graphics

November 1, 2016 at 16.00 in the exhibition halls of the Russian Academy of Arts (Prechistenka, 21) will open the exhibition of works by the famous Moscow painter, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, academician of the Russian Academy of Arts Viktor Kalinin. To the 70th birthday and 50th anniversary of creative activity.

The exposition of the retrospective exhibition features over 100 paintings and graphic sheets created over the past decade. However, many of these works are on display for the first time. For almost all 50 years, Kalinin’s work has been in the zone of increased attention of viewers and the professional environment and in many ways sets the vector for the development of contemporary art.

V. Kalinin belongs to a generation of artists who loudly declared themselves in the 1970s. In his work, the artist combines the classical foundations of the Russian school of painting and modern searches, the artistic discoveries of the twentieth century, the depth of understanding of images with a powerful pictorial-plastic generalization. The work of V. Kalinin gives an idea of his complex perception of the world, nature, which he organically and large-scale embodies in his works.

V. Kalinin was born in the Altai village of Zalesovo into a family of Old Believers in 1946. Deeply religious parents had an undeniable influence on the artist’s way of thinking. Memories of childhood, family became the reason for Kalinin’s thoughts about things, about the earthly world and about the divine providence.

V. Kalinin began his studies at the Krasnoyarsk Art College. V.I. Surikova, in 1965 he graduated from the Gorky Art College, and in 1971 he graduated from the Moscow Art School (formerly Stroganovskoye) in the department of monumental painting under the direction of the greatest master of Russian fine art G.M. Korzhev. From 1995 to 2006 - taught at the Department of Academic Painting MGPHA them. S. G. Stroganova.

The master’s paintings are characterized by deep philosophical reflections on the basic issues of human life. In these works, the monumental artist through a laconic composition, built with contrasting color planes, raises a simple plot to the height of the biblical image. Sometimes the painting style of Kalinin goes back to fresco painting, to medieval mosaics and church stained-glass windows. Kalinin’s painting captures with a bright spiritualized plastic beauty. The powerful element of color as living matter, as a rebellion of colors and lines dissecting them permeates all his paintings. The picturesque space is fragmented, while maintaining unity, giving the picture an amazing integrity.

In memories of the past, the center of thought becomes the family, father and mother, whom he perceives as the beginning of all principles. The story of a man turns into a reflection on the human race, on the fate of peoples, on things. Among the portraits, the image of the father, who became the protagonist of a number of significant paintings, is especially dramatic. No less significant is the image of the mother, to whom many canvases are also devoted. Thinking by Christian images turns the particular into the universal. For the artist’s creativity, other motifs from childhood impressions that take on a symbolic sound are also important: “gates”, “bridges” and “wells”. In his work, the artist often turns to religious motives. He created a number of compositions on gospel themes, the content of which goes beyond biblical subjects.

The exposition presents deeply psychological portraits of his family and friends. Many portraits of people of art - artists, composers, art historians, etc. Kalinin seeks to create the image of a person, to reveal the internal state of the character, his character. The artist’s models are often characters with a refined character, vulnerable, brooding, and he carefully guards their privacy. Self-portraits of the master are imbued with the desire to convey the state of mind, their emotional stress.

Many landscapes of Kalinin, often acquiring a symbolic sound, were noted with artistic persuasiveness and deep drama. First of all, these are large canvases from the Altai cycle “Road to Belovodye”, “Valley of the Kings”, “Starfall” and others. The artist’s landscapes are a miracle of discovering the world around him as an unfamiliar one, preserving all the power of the pristine earth, releasing powerful elements. On his canvases, the world around us appears sometimes harsh, then bright, blooming, inexhaustible in its emotional impulses.

Girl from San Michel

The picturesque language of V. Kalinin changes depending on his inner sense of self. It is characterized by either bold expressiveness or surprisingly subtle poetry, over which, as a rule, the monumental principle dominates.

The graphic sheets of the artist demonstrate his excellent mastery of the drawing. The graphic cycle created by the artist in France in 2013 for the first time submitted to the court of viewers is of undoubted interest. These are large sheets made in the mixed technique of watercolors, tempera, pastels, coal. Compositionally refined, dynamic, expressive in color, they convey the atmosphere of meetings with the inhabitants of this hospitable land, an attempt to comprehend modern life in these landscapes covered with centuries of history through the prism of mythopoetic perception, characteristic of Victor Kalinin.

V. Kalinin’s works are in the collections of 40 art museums in the country, including the State Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg and other significant museum collections and private collections in our country and abroad. The artist’s creativity, which was noted by many awards, has become the subject of scientific research by the country’s leading art historians and, as a result, the publication of a number of fundamental works.

Victor Kalinin is a great artist who is constantly looking for a picturesque - plastic form for confessional expression. He is in the prime of his creative powers and new achievements await him.

The exhibition is open to visitors until November 20, 2016.

Autumn diary. 2013. 65x50 paper mixed media 002

Autumn diary. 2013. 65x50 paper mixed media 016