"Victory! Painting of a monumentalist" by Roman Abdullin Automatic translate

The Russian Academy of Arts presents an exhibition of works by Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Arts Roman Faristovich Abdullin, dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. Viewers will see paintings, graphic sheets and mosaic panels created by the author over the past decade.

Roman Abdullin was born in 1991 in Yekaterinburg. He received a classical academic education, graduating from the Sverdlovsk Art School named after I. D. Shadr. Then he studied in the monumental painting workshop of the St. Petersburg State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture named after I. E. Repin at the Russian Academy of Arts under the guidance of academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, professor Alexander Kirovich Bystrov. Since 2021, he has been working in the St. Petersburg mosaic workshop of the academic branch of the Center for Scientific Institutions of the Russian Academy of Arts. Despite his young age, he has already become the author of many art projects that have gained fame in Russia, and his works are presented in museum and private domestic and foreign collections. He is a laureate of various prizes and competitions, was awarded the gold medal "Worthy" of the Russian Academy of Arts for a series of works dedicated to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War.

It is important to emphasize that the artist’s interpretation of the military theme is filled with a high sense of love for the Fatherland and civic duty in the classical sense of understanding human experiences. He carefully preserves the memory of his family history and perceives the past as events of his own life. "The feat of the people is the theme of Roman Abdullin’s paintings. Roman strives to reflect the history of our Motherland in his canvases brightly, sharply, with excellent composition," notes his mentor A.K. Bystrov.

R. F. Abdullin has mastered the lessons of the academic school in general and the style of the monumental workshop once headed by the academician of the Russian Academy of Arts Andrei Andreevich Mylnikov (1919-2012). The author is characterized by monumental thinking, with its inherent laconicism of expressive means, generalization of form, and some severity of the pictorial language. In the triptych "Dedicated to the Heroes of the Great Patriotic War" (2017-2020), consisting of huge sketches for mosaics called "The Siege of Leningrad. 1941", "Victory. 1945", "Stalingrad. February 2, 1943" he demonstrates the specifics of his painting method - catchy, almost poster-like, statuesque, memorable images of heroes overwhelmed by patriotic feelings, a desire for large significant themes. The artist has an excellent command of academic drawing, the ability to construct complex multi-figure compositions that are precisely organized in terms of rhythm and color, combining realistic elements with conventional features.

The author’s method is developed in the monumental canvas "Victory at Khalkhin Gol. 1939" (2021-2024), in which the Manchurian campaign of the Red Army is presented as a powerful anticipation, a balance of natural elements and human energy. Red flashes of fire in the sky, the military equipment of the defeated enemy and the heroic images of the victorious soldiers impress with the ability to express triumphant feelings through symbolic details - the wings of raincoats and the falling stars of the night sky as a victory salute.

Roman Abdullin repeatedly turns to the image of the Tatar poet Musa Jalil. In the painting "Black Raven" (2023), he is depicted imprisoned in Moabit prison, in the works "Executioner" (2023) and "I swore an oath to serve my Fatherland" (2022-2023) - a heroically sublime and unbroken image of a prisoner, and in the painting "He is sentenced to death…" (2023-2024) there is a poignant feeling of pain and suffering for the talent that left Earth prematurely.

The canvas "Greater love has no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (2024-2025), which is dedicated to Epistinia Feodorovna Stepanova, who lost 9 sons, sounds piercingly. The pain and tragedy of a woman who sees off her children to war, who has not lost faith in their return, even after receiving terrible news of their death, cannot leave the viewer indifferent. Allusions to gospel stories and the appearance of religious symbols in the foreground and background of the canvas are not accidental in the painting. The artist also reflects on the theme of war in more intimate works, such as "Leaf Fall" (2019-21), in which the theme of death and mourning for soldiers killed on the battlefield sounds sharply and piercingly.

Roman Abdullin has succeeded in mastering the mosaic technique, achieving a high professional level in it. The landscape "Victory Salute. 1945" (2024) is also expressively made, in which rich contrasting color combinations of luminous red, green, blue smalt acquire the power of the sound of a solemn march. The master has created mosaics with images of heroes. Portraits, which are given special attention in the artist’s work, are organically included in the plot compositions. For example, as the images of Marshals G.K. Zhukov and V.I. Chuikov in the triptych "Dedicated to the Heroes of the Great Patriotic War". He also reveals the heroic theme in the portrait of Marshal D.T. Yazov. The author dedicated a triptych to his grandfathers, the Karnaukhov brothers, residents of the village of Staroutkinsk in the Sverdlovsk region, representing not only relatives and loved ones, but also heroic workers and war veterans (2014-2019).

Roman Abdullin’s exhibition will become a notable event in the artistic life of Moscow, and for the artist it will serve not only as the result of a certain stage of his creative path, but also as a source of inspiration for new life-affirming works.

The text is based on an article by Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Arts, Doctor of Art History, Professor S. M. Gracheva.