Alexander Tolstikov - "Formula of nature" Automatic translate

The Russian Academy of Arts presents an exhibition of works by Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts Alexander Genrikhovich Tolstikov "Formula of Nature", which includes about 30 paintings of different years. In the author’s works, the traditions of Russian and world realistic experience are refracted in their own way. Portraits of contemporaries, images of nature, fantasy compositions - each work has its own background. The artist is unpredictable in his plans and creative acquisitions - it is almost impossible to guess where his new searches will lead him.

One of the most unusual Moscow painters is a member of two state academies - an academician of the Russian Academy of Arts and a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences - and combines active work in the fields of art and science. For an artist and scientist, nature is not only a source of endless inspiration, but also an object of careful study, analysis, research, and experiment. Therefore, the exposition dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the author was called "Formula of Nature".

Among the characteristic features of the work of Alexander Tolstikov are a certain clarity of the manner of writing, rigor in the selection of details, the desire to bring the plurality of the realistic world to a carefully selected unity of a specific image. The artist’s gaze is characterized by enthusiasm. The tasks that he sets for himself, working in any chosen genre, in many ways reveal to the viewer a system of artistic values ​​that is clearly formed in the master’s mind. His compositions are recognizable thanks to the characteristic manner of the author of the canvases, who creates a kind of method for the most complete disclosure of the image he forms on the canvas.

The artist’s creative arsenal includes still lifes, complex thematic compositions, classical portraits of contemporaries, prominent Russian scientists and cultural figures. In an effort to respond to manifestations of fleeting beauty, he inevitably turns to female images as the fundamental principles of all the most beautiful, mysterious and contradictory. They are constantly undergoing evolution, changing depending on the creative tasks set by the author. To date, the master owns a whole gallery of female portraits and compositions of various character and manner of execution.

Alexander Tolstikov does not dictate his vision of the future work to those portrayed, but dares to provide a model of complete freedom, taking the place of a neutral observer. An intriguing, largely theatrical play of meanings and statements fills the sometimes fictional image with content, in which historical allusions and modernity can be bizarrely combined.

The master prefers an informal approach to creating an image, being in a state of choice of various possibilities for the most vivid manifestation of the idea. So from earlier portraits restrained in color, he moves on to work with open forced color. Significant searches are carried out by him in the field of compositional constructions - from strictly classical to experimental, sometimes on the verge of outrageous.

Tolstikov’s portrait art is not only the embodiment of the artist’s pictorial quest, it is the author’s philosophy, reflection on human nature and its various facets. Increasingly, self-portraits appear in a number of works as an attempt to rethink one’s role in the rapidly changing context of the surrounding world. One of the recent self-portraits of "Auto-da-fe" is an access to an extremely open dialogue with the viewer.

A special place in the exposition also belongs to still lifes painted over the past few years. These are classically adjusted, extremely rational compositions in which the master experiments with rhythm, silhouette and architectonics of space.

The works presented at the exhibition testify that the artist once moves along the chosen path, but at the same time continues to search for new opportunities in the unlimited comprehension of nature.

The text was prepared on the basis of an article by Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts Maria Vyazhevich

Alexander Genrikhovich Tolstikov - Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts (Department of Painting), Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Department of Chemistry and Materials Sciences), member of the Moscow Union of Artists, Creative Union of Artists of Russia, laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation, laureate of the First Prize of the Competition. V. Popkova (IHF). Doctor of Chemical Sciences, Professor.

Born on August 16, 1957 in Alma-Ata, Kazakh SSR. Lives and works in Moscow.

Graduated from the Bashkir State University - Faculty of Chemistry. Since 1980 to 1986 studied according to an individual plan with the People’s Artist of the Bashkir ASSR, Honored Artist of the RSFSR R. M. Nurmukhametov, head of the easel painting workshop of the Ufa Institute of Arts. Since 1986 to 1992 trained in the creative workshop of the People’s Artist of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts S. B. Krasnov. From 1984 to 2022 - participant of many solo and group exhibitions in Russia and abroad: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg (Russia); Tallinn (Estonia), Helsinki (Finland), Oklahoma City (USA), Busan (South Korea), Paris (France).