Igor Dryomin:
Alexandra Khudyakova. "Sub-sculpture". Art doll

The Russian Academy of Arts (Prechistenka, 21) presents an exhibition of works by Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts Alexandra Khudyakova "Subsculpture". The art of art dolls. Author’s dolls of this famous master won audience recognition, are highly appreciated by professionals. Unrestrained imagination, vivid imagery, grace distinguish the works of A. Khudyakova.

Regular solo exhibitions of the artist are successfully held in Russia and abroad. The works of Alexandra Khudyakova are presented in private collections and collections in Russia, Italy, Germany, USA, Israel. By order of the Museum Association “Museum of the History of Moscow” Museum Association, the artist created a unique collection of 12 dolls “Moscow Elite”.

Alexandra Khudyakova is a member of the Association of Puppet Artists (MA), a member of the Creative Union of Artists of Russia (TSHR) (IFA), and curator of the DOLLART project. RU and the ART-DOLL project, deputy chairman of the Art Doll Section of the TSHR. She was awarded the Gold Medal of the Russian Academy of Arts, medals of the Creative Union of Artists of Russia, Moscow Union of Artists.

Alexandra Khudyakova was born in Moscow in 1970, she graduated from the Design Department of Moscow State Art and Industrial University. S. G. Stroganova. The author’s doll became both the topic of her diploma and a real vocation.

Doll art is one of the oldest phenomena in world culture. A doll-toy and a doll-model - his two faces invariably coexist in the space of history. The game beginning, fabulousness and at the same time a certain reminder of machine civilization, alienation, duality, according to researchers, created a special “doll mythology”. In the art of the second half of the 20th century, which is largely aimed at understanding its own specifics, comprehending the limits of its own capabilities, the art of dolls as a reflection of the antithesis of living / nonliving, spiritualized / mechanical opens up exceptional scope for expressing the ever-living problems of contemporary art.

The art of the author’s art doll in Russia, which arose at the end of the 20th century among professional artists, received a special original development. Painters, sculptors, designers, theater and cinema artists, jewelers, animators, decorators found a unique artistic language in the art of dolls.

A. Khudyakova is far from understanding the doll as a mannequin that serves to demonstrate the costume. Each of her new works is a new image, a new character, a new story. First of all, the artist is interested in the “personality” that she creates. The idea dictates the form, material, external attributes, pose, costume, hairstyle, accessories. Porcelain, lace, beads, glass beads, pearls, rhinestones, shiny chains and rags of precious fabrics - everything is folded into a hammered pattern akin to the outfits of noble ladies in portraits of the Northern Renaissance. Often in the works, an appeal to the famous sculptural little ballerina Edgar Degas is obvious. The latter is not accidental and is a very important circumstance in the artistic position of the author.

Using various types of plastic (zernite, puppen-fimo, Flumo) in his works, A. Khudyakova prefers porcelain, considering it “precious”, like wood, stone. The artist is in constant creative search, experimenting, applying new techniques, materials, technologies. One of the first in our country, she began to create articulated dolls. For the first time she used metallized porcelain in a doll (series “Reflections”, on the themes of the works of K. Khudyakov). The effect of mirror metallization brings the doll closer to the sculpture, but the articulated mobility returns its playful nature to it.

A. Khudyakova does not undertake to characterize the style in which she works. “The art of an author’s doll is a synthetic art,” she notes, “and not only in terms of combining various materials, techniques, crafts, but also in a peculiar game with styles. Everything that is capable of realizing the very image conceived by the artist is used without regard to generally accepted framework and rules. ” Renaissance, East, Art Deco - a bizarre mixture of associations, the author’s imagination gives rise to fabulous images of her works. The exhibition will feature several dozens of works of different years - a real celebration of fantasy and beauty.