Portraits in the style of old Russian icon painting, created by the modern master of the brush Andrei Remnev

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

Nowadays, it is more and more difficult for contemporary artists to find free niches for the development of their individualism and the manifestation of the author's handwriting. But there is a master in Russia who has created his own unique corporate style, which is based on the old technique of Russian icon painting and modern constructivism. And the artist embodies his fantasies with the help of ancient icon painting technologies and natural paint made with his own hand on egg yolk. The name of this rare contemporary Russian painter - Andrey Remnev.

Corporate identity is the key to great success

The artist's incredible success lies in his author's handwriting, which he developed over the years of hard work. Namely, thanks to the combination of techniques used in ancient Russian icon painting, Russian painting of the 18th century, compositional findings of the "World of Art" and Russian constructivism, the author achieved colossal world recognition and popularity, including in the art market.

The most popular are the works of the unique master, which use the visual motives of Russian provincial life, revealed in an unusual compositional solution. The characters and the environment in the paintings of Andrey Remnev seem to hang in space, losing the running of time, this is where all the charm and unique corporate style of the master lies.

- this is what the artist himself says about his searches. And only after a closer look at his biography, you understand the true meaning of these words.

A few words from the artist's biography

Andrey Remnev (born in 1962) was born in the picturesque town of Yakhroma near Moscow, not far from the ancient city of Dimitrov, into a family of doctors. Even as a boy, he was fascinated by the wonderful town located on the high hills, as well as by the uniqueness and splendor of its landscapes.

Yakhroma, spread out on a hilly area, seemed to the boy a huge world, and from the windows of his home, perspectives close to those of Bruegel's were opening up. Rough terrain with significant elevation changes, cut by the waters of small rivers and a canal connecting the Moskva River and the Volga, as well as overgrown with dense groves and built up with small suburban villages; the neighboring ancient city of Dmitrov is the same age as Moscow and the river ships that moved along the canal and the trains overtaking them - all this could be seen from the small window of their house.

It was this magical land that became for Andrey a whole world, which in the future will be reflected in the original work of the painter.

The road to recognition

The expression "The road will be mastered by the one walking" - perfectly characterizes the beginning of the creative path of Andrei Remnev to the heights of his Olympus. It so happened in life that to achieve his dream, namely to find his guiding thread in art and become a recognized painter, Andrei walked purposefully and persistently for a long time. Behind his shoulders and persistent self-education, and private painting lessons in the studio of the Honored Artist of the RSFSR F. V. Shapaev, and the Moscow Art School, and the Moscow State Art Institute named afterSurikov, as well as an internship in Germany and creative work in Cyprus.

But this is not all: the master considers the many years of study at the Moscow Spaso-Andronnikov Monastery to be the most important milestone in his creative career. It was there that he learned the age-old wisdom of Russian icon painting under the guidance of the icon painter Father Vyacheslav.

At one time, the artist devoted a lot of time to visiting the museum in the monastery, where he made copies of the best examples of Old Russian painting of the 15-17th century. It was then, while simultaneously creating his own paintings, that Andrei Remnev unexpectedly found a unique author's technique for his painting, unlike any of the existing ones.

Creativity of the artist

The viewer, contemplating the artist's unusual works, sooner or later begins to realize that the characters, taken only by sensation and creative imagination, suddenly begin to unfold in a new way, carrying an unpredictable semantic load. So, in each painting of the painter, a whole world of fantastic reality opens up to the viewer, filled with details and images that can be considered for a very long time, comprehending the essence of what was conceived.

Original writing technique

The originality of the master's works also amazes the viewer with an extraordinary technique and an unusually complex compositional structure, a fantasy storyline and an amazingly bright palette of colors. It was her that the painter used to the highest degree: the incredible contrasts, the colors used, Andrei Remnev in his plot paintings harmoniously skillfully combined and presented as a single whole.

But the most amazing thing about the artist's paintings is that he writes his paintings with unusual home-made paints, very similar in composition to tempera. Remnev, having become like the masters of the past, creates as in the old days, using only natural pigments, rubbed by hand on egg yolk to the desired consistency. And it should be noted that this is a rather complex painting technique, which even classical painters have long abandoned because of its complexity.

Summing up the above, I would like to note that at the present time Andrei Remnev is an assistant professor of the painting department of the Moscow State Academic Art Institute named after Surikov, which does not prevent him from continuing to create his unique painting. And just recently, a new theme appeared in the master's work, he was seriously carried away by sketches from nature of modern Russian ballet dancers. In addition, fulfilling private orders, he discovered in himself an extraordinary gift of a portrait painter. Truly a talent.

And, of course, the artist continues to regularly exhibit his delightful works at All-Russian and foreign exhibitions, both group and personal. It seems worthless to say that his extraordinary canvases, imbued with the Russian spirit, pictorial traditions and the author's artistic vision, are always highly noted by critics and warmly received by the public, both domestic and foreign.

Continuing the theme of contemporary artists, get acquainted with the work of a gifted landscape painter who takes his inspiration from the works of the great classics of landscape painters: Russian landscapes of Alexander Afonin, who is called modern Shishkin