Exhibition of Stavropol artists "Roads of the open air"

At the invitation of the Volga branch of the Russian Academy of Arts and the Radishchev Museum, with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Saratov Region in Khvalynsk, the exhibition “The Roads of the Open Air” of the Association of Artists of the South of Russia “Wheel” is planned to be shown in the Konstantin Petrov-Vodkin Picture Gallery (director Oleg Kalaitanov). The curator of the project is Svetlana Kuznetsova, first deputy chairman of the Volga branch of the Russian Academy of Arts.

The exhibition is on display from August 14 to August 24, 2019 in the K.S. Picture Gallery Petrov-Vodkin - a branch of the Radishchevsky Museum (Lenin Square, 89)

in the framework of the IV Interregional festival of creativity “Khvalynsky etudes K.S. Petrova-Vodkin. " On August 14, the grand opening of the exhibition is planned with the participation of project manager Oleg Kalaytanov and his colleagues: Natalia Litosova, Svetlana Kukueva, Anatoly Kakalov. The festival participants are invited to the opening, who came to Khvalynsk from Saratov, Penza, Ryazan, Yaroslavl, Voronezh, Tolyatti, as well as all those interested in contemporary art.

About the art movement - the Union of Artists of the South of Russia “Wheel”. For 19 years, an active group of plein air artists, led by Oleg Kalaytanov, has been organizing and conducting annual plein airs and exhibitions in the North Caucasus. Such a direction in the cultural life of the region was called the Wheel Association of Artists of the South of Russia. Since 2000, plein airs have been held in memory of the outstanding Russian painter Pavel Grechishkin. The phenomenon of continuity of the plein air tradition, a tireless desire to study the world around them - these are the phenomena of artistic life that were fundamental to the creative path of P. M. Grechishkin. They formed the basis of the idea of the "Wheel" movement.

At the source of the plein air there were only a few people. Today, the Wheel Association has in its permanent composition more than 25 participants from all over the Southern Federal District, as well as from Central Russia. For many years, open-air visits took place in the most picturesque places of the North Caucasus: dozens of different gorges and villages of the Karachay-Cherkess and Kabardino-Balkarian republics, the coast of Crimea and Abkhazia. Some artists took part in international open airs held in China, Italy, Montenegro, France, and Cyprus. Participants of plein airs recall them through the prism of their picturesque discoveries, which formed the basis of sketch studies, and subsequently easel paintings.

In our time, such a phenomenon of artistic life as plein air is rare and not very popular. What makes the artist go from the comfortable atmosphere of the workshop to the “Spartan” conditions of the mountain plein air? Members of the Wheel Association, belonging to different pictorial schools, gather in a group in order to work together, develop creatively, sharing experience with each other. Sharing their impressions, experiences, they hone their skills. Such a process contributes to the improvement of creative thought, the discovery of new pictorial and graphic techniques. Speaking about the priority directions of the association, the leading ones remain: the revival of the open air tradition and the promotion of artistic creativity.

At the exhibition “Roads of the open air” in Khvalynsk, paintings and sketches of 6 authors are presented - members of the Koleso Association, members of the Creative Union of Russian Artists: Oleg Kalaitanov, Alexander Babich, Natalya Litosova, Svetlana Kukueva, Anatoly Kakalov, Anatoly Solovtsev.

Oleg Kalaytanov presents several Crimean studies and studies devoted to the Caucasus. Artworks are made by acrylic. Plein air painting technique figurative, with decorative elements. He manages to exaggerate the plot perfectly, summarizing the seen features of the natural landscape. Coloristic harmony on canvas is achieved through many years of plein air practice of observing nature. The vivid nature of the breaks of the Crimean coastal line formed the basis of bold compositional searches. Autumn motifs of mountain gorges, to a greater extent, revealed the author’s palette.

Natalia Litosova proposed at the exhibition sketches dedicated to the Stavropol Territory, several Crimean stories. Her acrylic painting technique is not much different from oil painting. For her, achieving the credibility of the transmission of nature is one of the priority tasks in the open air. Crimean stories written in the village of New World. Historically an iconic place, with a beautiful coastline - a real find for a landscape painter. Painting by Natalia Litosova can be attributed to both modern impressionism and realism. Through a completely objective fixation of reality, the author strives for a sensory perception of what is happening. The light in the paintings of Natalia Litosova acts as the main theme and means of artistic expression.

Etudes of Svetlana Kukueva , presented at the exhibition, were written in 2013 - 2018 at open airs in Novorossiysk and Karachay-Cherkessia, on creative trips to France and China. The value of this small collection of studies is geographic diversity. Each of them carries a piece of mood and flavor of the place of birth.

Anatoly Kakalov’s painting is distinguished by subtle coloristic solutions. Special touching and lyricism is achieved through the painting technique of stroke brushstroke. Landscape planes and shapes literally shimmer with a variety of shades, a subtle game of warmth and coldness. The plots of sketches are sometimes straightforward, but some “desert” and the simplicity of the motive are suggestive and kind of thoughtfulness.

The works of Alexander Babich presented at the exhibition were created in the last three years (2017-2019) in the format of participation in various creative projects: in the Plastovskaya Osen international plein air in the village of Prislonikha, Ulyanovsk Region, in the homeland of Arkady Plastov; two works were brought from North Ossetia from the Republican painting workshop “South Palette” - the majestic image of Ossetia was conveyed through the artistic reflection of the ancient patrimonial towers near the village of Tsymiti; a full-scale sketch, written in an open air in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic in the village of Teberda, is interesting in its autumn palette. The state of nature is subtly conveyed: snowy peaks, early morning in the mountains.

Anatoly Solovtsev held several independent plein airs in Thailand. Exotic plots collected in a single series “Along the Shore” will add bright colors to the exhibition. Home-made marinas and boats, rickety fishing huts, tropical plants - all this sends to the originality of this country, its ethnic culture and nature.

Active plein air and exhibition activities of the participants of the Union of Artists of the South of Russia “The wheel has become a bright and significant event in the cultural life of the North Caucasus. The leadership of the Volga branch of the Russian Academy of Arts expresses the hope that the invitation in 2019 to Stavropol artists to the Interregional Festival of Creativity “Khvalynsky Etudes of K. S. Petrov-Vodkin” and their active participation in the program of open-airs, master classes, creative meetings and round tables on contemporary fine art Art will contribute to a mutually beneficial creative exchange between art schools, the revival of plein air tradition, raising the level of art education and art culture as a whole in the Saratov region and other regions of Russia.