Modern Belarusian landscape. The main ideas and trends of contemporary Belarusian art

In the context of contemporary art, given to endless experiments, Belarusian artists are most often perceived by traditionalists. In the visual arts system, painting with the classical form of the painting and the figurativeness characteristic of many authors remains a priority. However, the phenomenon of Belarusian art is that the traditional school did not follow the path of a single classical artistic realization. Nearby coexist traditional and new forms, as well as means of artistic language. Interest in the experience of European countries contributed to the development of domestic art in the direction of formalizing the figurative direction. The freedom of a plastic image, the interpretation of traditional genres in line with modern visual trends - all this significantly distinguishes Belarusian artists in the world art community.

Contemporary Belarusian art has entered a new stage of development. The main problem of artistic practice in the second half of the 20th century was the definition of its boundaries. However, no one has answered yet the questions “What is art?”, “What should its existence be in a modern, changing world?” The mechanisms of artistic creation, the laws of aesthetic and extra-aesthetic perception are not fully understood. A cultural portrait of time is still being written, history is being created between eras. Today, the most important question about the boundaries and logic of art is the question of the coordinates of sensuality, which holds this logic together. The contemporary creator is again interested in man, and man "on both sides of the canvas."

In this vein, the conversation about Belarusian painting is more relevant than ever. The idea of such a presentation in today’s national painting practice directly follows from the studies of Belarusian and European art criticism, according to which contemporary art cannot be limited only to the modern results of creativity, but freely interprets the picturesque heritage of all times and styles without categorical denials. So painting, along with non-traditional forms of art, today claims to have a leading role in the modern creative process.

It is very important to determine what Belarusian painting of the new XXI century is and what trends are characteristic of it. First of all, it is a statement of metaphor and concept that replaces the thematic component. Contemporary Belarusian painting seeks to embody the author’s thought. Artists are interested not so much in facts and conflicts of reality as in their own associative perception. Enriched art poetry, the master turns to the inner meaning of life, the psychological state of the hero, the depths of his subconscious, and this requires an unconventional approach to solving the canvas or graphic sheet. Real impressions become the basis for the transformation of reality, and objects, architectural structures - an impetus for imagination, allowing you to build a certain mise-en-scene of the picture.

Today, as before, real painting remains an elite art, which requires the viewer intellectual work - understanding the characteristics of the plastic language, certain spiritual aspirations - a sense of beauty. The life force of traditions in painting is so great that neither the social order in Soviet times, nor the temptations of modern, pointless art could destroy it. The source of these traditions is the artists’ love for their land, its nature, and people. High-quality painting is always individual. In the mainstream of traditions, with the free possession of all the wealth of accumulated artistic means, this master is always open in his work - it inevitably reveals the main personality traits of the author, his own “face”, which is easy to distinguish from a mask, artificial reception by a professional eye.

Tradition, like realism, cannot be interpreted too narrowly (“it seems, or not”) or in relation to some social phenomena, so that this term does not lose the interpretation that refers to its analytical comprehension of life. In addition, the mechanism of the art market leads to the predominance of art phenomena in the information space that are more accessible to verbal identification. Works that are based on tradition in its original sense, it is very difficult to translate into a verbal series. The structure of the pictorial image is based on the unusually complex language of plastic realism, which is based on subtle nuances and relationships, which only a professional look can thoroughly determine.

One more aspect can be noted here. At present, the idea that there is a good painting, and, accordingly, about the criteria for evaluating a work of art, is being eroded. Many expositions in exhibition halls and salons sometimes create the illusion of the availability of paintings. However, there are often found, so to speak, "surrogate" products or works that go beyond the boundaries of this painting. Ignoring the quality criteria was a significant drawback of the artistic infrastructure of the Soviet period and the modern art market, where commercial interests or information support of the project often play a key role, when not a specific object with its features is proposed, but a brand, the implementation of which can be any.

Today, emphasis is placed on the selection of authors’ names and their works in terms of quality content. It is important to consider painting through the prism of traditions in accordance with the fact that the concept of tradition means a steady desire of people to preserve the heritage of their predecessors, to reveal the "archeology" of figurative archetypes, the "codes" of various layers of the painting heritage, to present a modern interpretation of traditional painting genres such as landscape, still life, genre multi-figure painting, portrait.

The endless possibilities of expressing the problematic connection of modern painting with the experiences of the artist’s extrovert (external) and introvert (inner) world are determined by the example of works by older and middle generations, most of whom are recognized masters of national culture. In this sense, it is they who today strengthen, affirm, develop and present the traditions of national culture to their compatriots and the international community. In their works there is no stylistic unity, similarity of form, content and plasticity. Artists are united by many-sidedness. And the viewer will be interested in the opportunity to compare how artists different in the creative method of self-expression identify and interpret the wheel of the most pressing events.

At the All-Union Exhibition of Student Works in Moscow, the Belarusian section always stood out, for it represented technically advanced, well-arranged works with an exceptional sense of color and the technique of owning the pattern, which also had a peculiar national sound. This was determined in the absence of excessive compositional rigidity, and in an indirect reading of the topic, and in the softness of lines and color. Student work often won contests, and the authors themselves received all-Union awards and scholarships. The system of teaching and learning created in those days was preserved today. True, it is not a dogma and is changing under the influence of modern trends, the need for some specializations of art, the relevance of certain of its areas. But the basis, the foundation - the academic drawing, the realism of traditions, mastery, first of all, the upbringing of freedom in the use of technical means to the benefit of the main high artistic idea, in the end, the upbringing of the artist’s individuality - remained the same.

And this is obviously manifested in the work of the best Belarusian painters who are engaged in creative experiments, do not strive for a literally justified plot, combine different plastic techniques, borrowings and reminiscences in one work. Many of them freely transform figurative creativity, using both new and classic visual means. The language of their art is distinguished by its plasticity. He preserves the traditions of academic excellence, but at the same time, the authors strive to creatively rethink the experience of past generations, experiment with the latest technologies and materials, while paying more attention to expanding the figurative understanding of the work through signs, symbols. Many compositions are prompted by national and historical themes.

Artists offer their perception of traditional painting genres. The landscape is presented both as a conditional embodiment of real cognitive space, and as a complex system of signs and symbols. But the means by which the authors convey the relationship of the existing environment and the imaginary are unusually diverse. Each of the artists explores the closest element of visual art to him, certainly, without disturbing others to interpret space and form, build their own world through complex compositional techniques, comprehend the environment through the texture and plastic material. Picturesque compositions are complex in texture and color, cognitive in the author’s plastic, judiciously philosophical and deeply associative. Reminiscences of the last century perceive works based on quoting the works of famous artists.

Actively involved in the overall artistic process and youth. Young painters use a variety of techniques, while testing themselves and the audience, build their own reality, regardless of the greater or lesser degree of conditionality of the plastic language.