Exhibition of paintings by Ilya Komov DUEL in the Pushkin Museum

From April 3 to 26, 2015, the Pushkin State Museum on Prechistenka hosts a personal exhibition of painting “The Duel” by Ilya Komov, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Arts.

A duel is the highest point of confrontation, its culmination, a tragic, fatal moment when someone finally becomes clear… The duel of Light and Darkness, truth and sin, truth and falsehood, greed and self-sacrifice, indifference against Love, vulgarity against art, authentic with false, bright with dull, hot with cold, black with white, red with green, fiery with deep blue - this is the life of a modern person, his inner and surrounding world. First of all, his duel with himself for saving an immortal soul.

In earthly life, alas, good does not always conquer evil. Evidence is the outcome of Pushkin’s last duel. The genius of Russian literature foresaw him in his immortal work “Eugene Onegin,” where in the center of the composition is the tragic death of a young poet.

That is why the title picture of the exhibition of Ilya Komov in the Pushkin Museum was the work “Duel” - a portrait of actors Vasily Simonov and Viktor Dobronravov (Lensky and Onegin) in the play “Eugene Onegin” of the Vakhtangov Theater. The core of the exhibition is a series of portraits of artists of the Vakhtangov Theater in the performances The Queen of Spades, Eugene Onegin, and Lermontov’s Masquerade.

The visual language of painting by I. Komov and the stage language of the Vakhtangov Theater are related phenomena. “I came to the conclusion that I am trying to write on the same principles as Fomenko set or how Tuminas puts it,” the artist says, “the magic of art attracts me when the depth of the image grows out of nowhere, purely by plastic means.” The conventional language of the image (expressive composition, open color) is not a dead decorative stylization. On the contrary, it is the concentration of what is actually seen in a capacious artistic image, designed to cause direct empathy of the viewer. Without words, on an emotional level, directly to the soul and brain to communicate the most important and innermost. The rhythmic and coloristic struggle of surfaces of open color express the character of the heroes, the intensity of their relationship.

Theater artists (among them, folk artists L. Maksakova, E. Knyazev, V. Simonov, A. Kuznetsov, Y. Rutberg, etc.) are shown at the time of the performance of the role, in their stage images. The artist is concerned about the moment of the merger of the personality of the actor with the subject of embodiment. All portraits are painted exclusively from nature, in direct contact with the model, which allows to achieve vitality and acute emotionality of works. Photography and Photoshop are a reproduction of life, but not life itself. It is important for the artist to feel it directly with his brush.

In the coloristic decision of his works I. Komov draws on the experience of masters of ancient Russian monumental painting and French art of the twentieth century. This combination, along with the undoubted gift of "seeing" space and picturesque freedom, allows the artist to achieve the depth and acute emotionality of his works.

The series of portraits is complemented by other works of the painter related to Pushkin figuratively, associatively and even geographically, including landscapes of Pushkin’s places in Moscow, St. Petersburg, etc.

Ilya Komov was born in 1965 in Moscow. Painter, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Arts, author of more than 35 solo exhibitions in Russia and abroad. Since 2009, regularly exhibited in France, where incl. working on a series of portraits of famous figures of French theater and cinema. Works are stored in museum and private collections, including in the collection of ex-UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, leader of the Indian National Congress, Sonya Gandhi.

The exhibition takes place in the year of the 50th anniversary of the artist Ilya Komov. Passed most of the creative path, summing up and determining the future strategy. The moment comes to a climax - a duel between the past and the future. Who will win?

Exhibition of paintings by Ilya Komov "DUEL" in the Pushkin Museum Automatic translate