Anniversary exhibition of works by Konstantin Petrov Automatic translate

The Russian Academy of Arts presents a retrospective exhibition of works by People’s Artist of the Russian Federation and Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts Konstantin Vitalyevich Petrov, dedicated to the author’s anniversary. A famous Russian graphic artist and painter, he masterfully masters the techniques of watercolor and pastel, works with oil and acrylic, which will be fully demonstrated within the framework of the academic exhibition project. The exposition will include more than 100 original works created from 1991 to 2024 and revealing the rich and multidimensional world of his creativity.

Konstantin Petrov early on established himself as an original artist with his own figurative vision and visual language. He was born into the family of a Soviet and Russian graphic artist, Honored Artist of the RSFSR, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Arts, Professor V.N. Petrov-Kamchatsky (1936-1993). In 1991 he graduated from the Moscow State Academic Art Institute named after V.I. Surikov, where he studied with professors N.A. Ponomarev, B.A. Uspensky, A.B. Yakushin. In 1990 he completed an internship at the Academy of Arts in Karlsruhe (Germany), from 1996 to 1998 he was an artist-intern at the Creative Graphics Workshop of the Russian Academy of Arts in Moscow under the direction of A.D. Shmarinov. Since 1989 he has been a regular participant in all-Russian and international exhibitions, the artist’s personal projects have taken place in Russia and abroad.

Giving preference to the genres of landscape, still life and portrait, Konstantin Petrov creates deeply emotional and poetic works. Already in the parable painting "Father in the Studio" (1992), which involuntarily enters into a dialogue with the work of Viktor Popkov, his aesthetic preferences and expressive features of the palette were revealed. The chamber "Portrait of Father V.N. Petrov" (2003), executed in pastel, is a wonderful example of a psychological portrait. The direct look from under heavy eyebrows is simultaneously wisely calm, introspective, sad, but also intent and tenacious. The open Platonov forehead, illuminated by frontal light, contrasts with the dark crimson coloristic nuances of the shirt, creating a solemnly warm tonal harmony. The small format of the painting further concentrates the viewer’s attention on this extraordinary personality, who had his say in the development of Russian graphics. According to S. S. Stupin, “the artist’s analytical creative method is aimed at finding whimsical forms of manifestation of the human spirit behind the real and visible of the first order.”

In his landscapes, the artist manages to maintain a clear, clean line of narrative, which he enlivens with a sharp perspective and voices with color. Many of them are dedicated to the beauty of the Russian land and its small towns: Pereslavl-Zalessky, Borovsk, Yaroslavl, Voronezh and others. He travels a lot around the country and abroad, constantly honing his professional skills, enriching his work with new, sometimes unexpected impressions, discoveries, and images. Internal drama and existential tension are modeled on the canvas by textural experiments ("Winter in Kriushkino", 2004), sharp compositional solutions ("August in Pereslavl", 2016), rhythmic counterpoints ("Caspian Grasses", 2011; "Regatta", 2014), and the search for unusual coloristic correspondences ("Twilight", 2014). Giving preference to clear, "pure" colors, he combines soft blue and lilac, turquoise, pink, yellow, ochre, light blue and green shades. This is especially noted in the article by T. A. Kochemasova: "Petrov’s landscapes are pictorial and musical studies, where the harmony of colors and melodious rhythm, a mysterious melody, immersing the viewer in a certain mysterious atmosphere of this or that place. Almost always, a real picture of nature becomes a starting point, where behind the outer shell, from which conventional outlines are preserved, a visual immersion into another reality begins. It consists of pastel colors, often close to the abstract form of pictorial art and a sense of special aestheticism with which the artist observes the measured village life."

Konstantin Petrov’s still lifes have their own characteristic principle of generalization - he gives preference to a laconic expressive image, subordinated to the main idea and devoid of secondary, distracting details. "At first glance, they are rather laconic, modest in their subject matter, even abstract, but they have a sharp appeal and silent, contemplative content," analyzes Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts A. I. Rozhin. The anniversary exhibition, deployed in a suite of academic halls, will allow the viewer to come into contact with the real and mysterious, limited and infinite world created by the artist with emotional sincerity and observation, professional culture and a genuine sense of immersion.

The text was prepared by the Information Department (press service) of the Russian Academy of Arts based on articles by A. I. Rozhin, T. A. Kochemasova, A. V. Likhovtseva and S. S. Stupin.