How the multi-layered paintings of the modern Moscow avant-garde artist captivate the audience

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

For many, the example of fine art is abstractionism and avant-garde, they are completely uninterested in artists copying reality. And this is not surprising, since the strength of the individual perception of reality, these trends in painting are in great demand in the modern world. And today, for lovers of the avant-garde, our virtual gallery presents the work of a world-famous Moscow artist - Sergey Chesnokov-Ladyzhensky, who became famous for his unusual author's handwriting and extraordinary creative methods.

A few words about the avant-garde

For reference, I would like to note that the avant-garde, as an innovative trend, began to manifest itself in all spheres of life and creativity at the beginning of the last century, or to be more precise, somewhere in the 1910s. He received his most vivid and multifaceted development in the fine arts of Europe. And a little later he came to Russia, creating a whole galaxy of artists such as Malevich, Chagall, Kandinsky, Goncharova, etc. The revolutionary time was a turning point in the history of Russia, not only in social terms. It thundered both on the streets and in the workshops of artists in the full sense of the word.

It should be noted that the influence on the Russian avant-garde of Western painting trends - impressionism, post-impressionism, expressionism and symbolism - is more than obvious. Therefore, the avant-garde movement in Russian painting did not form a single style. Rather, it is a whole system of styles, concepts, theories, languages, and schools that penetrate each other.

This very mix is very clearly manifested in the multifaceted work of Sergei Chesnokov-Ladyzhensky, who skillfully experiments with color, form, structure, rhythm and space. He is a prominent representative of the modern avant-garde, whose works are based on a clear connection with both the Russian and the world avant-garde of the 20-30s of the last century. In addition, to some extent, the artist's work subtly echoes the work of some other masters of modern painting and design.

About the artist

Sergey Chesnokov-Ladyzhensky (born 1954) is a descendant of the ancient noble family Ladyzhensky, a fairly well-known modern illustrator, graphic artist and painter. At one time he graduated from the art department of the Moscow Institute of Technology, and since then for about thirty years he has been teaching students painting within its walls.

Sergei Gennadievich, while still a student himself, was seriously carried away by graphic illustration and the creation of paintings in the style of avant-garde and figurative abstractionism. And years later, the master achieved uniqueness in his manner, and now we have the opportunity to contemplate in the artist's works a special corporate style and a specific special approach to avant-garde painting.

About artistic technique

Sergey Chesnokov-Ladyzhensky is an artist with a rather multifaceted talent. His painting technique is striking in the variety of not only artistic techniques, but also the means of execution. He paints traditionally - both in oil and acrylic on canvas. But in special cases he also uses an original technique invented by him: "cardboard - embossing - oil". The peculiarity of this creative technique lies in the fact that the artist fills with paint the grooves and scratches squeezed in the cardboard or drawings that are pressed by the author in advance, and then the excess of the paint layer is scraped off with a palette knife. Thus, oil paint applied in a thin layer on cardboard acquires watercolor transparency and depth.

This technique is very unpredictable, since it is impossible to predict in advance how the base and the applied paint composition will behave. I would also like to note that this technique requires from the master a firm hand, an accurate eye, impeccable creative intuition and phenomenal imagination.

It is also curious that the master writes almost all of his works without preparatory sketches or sketches. And this is undoubtedly a sign of creative maturity, the ability to create intuitively, to think figuratively while working. He puts his ideas almost immediately on the picture plane, only later modifying them in the process of creative searches. In the course of his thought, the master adds more and more new details to the work, polishing the compositional structure and painting with a positive emotional background. Such an extraordinary technical technique allows him to build his canvases like architectural structures, which are "overgrown" during construction with various elements. It is this manner that creates the famous layering of Chesnokov-Ladyzhensky.

Ambiguous images

the master asserts, collecting illogicalities, accidents, grinding, adjusting one to it different elements. Since in each of his work the master achieves an extremely organic composition, the relationship of the image, impeccable color and texture.

Almost every image that the artist uses in his work is ambiguous, since it has a reverse side, a seamy side and an inner essence. And the master achieves such an effect by layering and combining in one work events of different times, images of different scales, elements of different textures, contrasting color combinations.

The key factor for understanding the works of Sergei Chesnokov-Ladyzhensky is time, which literally overlaps one another, thereby creating a visual temporary space. Therefore, reflecting different periods of time in his creations - from the present to the imaginary, and from it to the time spanning the entire history of art, the artist seems to create a universe consisting of many layers of reality.

By the way, each master goes his own way to the vanguard, but not everyone rises to the top of fame. Throughout his creative career, the artist has been a constant participant in all kinds of all-Russian and international exhibitions, where his unique creations have always attracted great interest from both viewers and critics.

It is generally accepted that the painting of a Moscow master is the best example of the modern Russian avant-garde, it is in demand on the art market and serves as an adornment of private collections and state galleries in many European countries. His paintings are the property of the Tretyakov Gallery, and some museums in Germany and Italy. Of course, most of the artist's works were sold to private collections in these countries, as well as in the Czech Republic, Austria, France, Hungary, and the USA.

Continuing the theme, a story about the work of modern avant-garde artists - sharp corners of modern neo-modernism in the paintings of the Ukrainian-American artist Andrey Protsyuk.