Ivan Slavinsky, aka Marina Ivanova, aka "Plum": why did the Russian artist sign paintings with the name of his wife

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

Petersburg artist, owner of the gallery "SLAVINSKY PROJECT" - Ivan Slavinskyis considered by critics to be one of the most expensive contemporary Russian artists. In this review, a story about how his formation took place, the search for his own handwriting in painting and, of course, the paintings of this wonderful master.

Ivan Slavinsky was born in 1968 in Leningrad. Father - battle painter Dmitry Oboznenko inherited the artistic gift of a painter to his son. At the age of 5, the boy already had a good command of pencil and paints. Ivan received his first skills in the visual arts at the art school at the Academy of Arts. The father was very critical of his son's first works. But soon he began to trust Ivan to write small details on the edges of his canvases. And later I realized that my son is very talented, and he can create himself.

During the formation of the young artist, he was referred to as a realist, then a postmodernist, then a surrealist: it was very difficult, looking at the early works of Slavinsky, to say that this is the hand of the same master. And only years later, having brought together all these styles and techniques of art, he created his own style, his own unique style.

At his first exhibition in 1991, held in the gallery of the Fellowship of Free Artists, Ivan was recognized by both viewers and art critics. The owner of a unique painting talent immediately became famous and recognizable in the city on the Neva, and later in Moscow itself.

Once, having gone with his wife on a 4-day tourist visa to France for the New Year holidays, he stayed there for ten whole years, of which he lived for almost 2 years with an expired visa. At first, he and his wife stayed with a friend in a tiny room overlooking the Eiffel Tower. Then they lived on an unfinished construction site, sleeping on bunks made of planks.

The artist gradually began to make a living by painting: he handed over his works to a small gallery for sale. As it turned out, the owner of this gallery knew the artist's work well - she saw his work on Nevsky. The collaboration was fruitful and money-making. The couple were even able to rent a small apartment. The inspired artist began to paint in different styles, which immediately became incomprehensible to the naive French: how is it possible that a painter could simultaneously paint in several techniques. So Ivan's works were different in manner and style.

It was then that Russian ingenuity came to the rescue: the painter began to sign part of the work performed in a different technique with the name of his wife. This is how the pseudonym "Marina Ivanova" arose. Friends who know this story gave Ivan the nickname "Plum", which was a derivative of two surnames: Slavinsky and Ivanova. Some works, signed with the name of his wife, had greater success, to which Ivan, as if envious, said: "Masha, look how famous you have become!"

Oddly enough, everyone took the Russian artist for a Parisian. Thanks to good French for a year and a half of illegal residence in France, no one asked Slavinsky for a visa. He even managed, without any documents, to buy himself a car and register it. But soon he was declassified by customs and expelled from the country. But at the same time, an invitation to France was already in his pocket. And Slavinsky, having passed all the documents through the consulate, returned to Paris legally.

And for about eight more years he lived in Paris and already worked under the exclusive contracts of several European galleries. With personal exhibitions, he traveled almost all over Europe. The exhibitions of his paintings were a great success in Luxembourg, Dublin, Stockholm, Marseille and Paris. All canvases of the Parisian period were successfully sold out.

His unique paintings have been added to the private collections of art connoisseurs in Italy, France, Holland, England, and the USA. The original cost of paintings by Ivan Slavinsky was from twenty thousand dollars. The buyers were impressed by the "mixture" of techniques taken from Vrubel, Degas and Petrov-Vodkin, for which they were ready to pay good money.

While still living abroad, in 1997 he received membership in the Union of Artists of Russia. And upon returning to his homeland in 2002, he settled in St. Petersburg. In 2007 he opened an art gallery under his own name, which after a while was renamed into "SLAVINSKY ART". And since 2016, a new gallery of the painter has been opened in St. Petersburg - "SLAVINSKY PROJECT".

The genre of fantastic realism, based on metamorphoses, symbols, allegories, on the most complex compositions, and on the use of a rich palette of colors, is reflected in classical still lifes, and in urban landscapes, and in the artist's impressionist portraits.

Ivan Slavinsky must be given his due - not many artists manage to find a niche in contemporary art, acquire their own style and unique charm. And with all this, even during his lifetime, sell his works on the art market for decent money.

Indeed, for the most part, artists are bad traders, they do not know how to sell their works. And some live out their lives in poverty. Years pass and their creations start to cost millions. This can be said with confidence by looking at art rating of the most expensive Russian artists of the last century.