solo show Игоря Литвинова

«EXISTENCE OF LIGHT»

06.09 — 18.10

Winzavod Contemporary Art Center, 4 Syromyatnichesky Lane, 1/8, building 9, entrance 22

"Igor Litvinov's work is at the cutting edge of the problem of overcoming the personal emotional element for the sake of entering the open space of absolute pictorial freedom. The method chosen by the artist is not just to show the obvious inferiority of "reality", but to contrast the absurdity of what is happening in the material world with the transcendental chaos in which absolute pain reigns. The fractured, distorted, deliberately caricatured human characters are presented in combination with tragic, anxiously expressive, extremely tense abstract background.
Yet this seemingly natural stylistic unity in Litvinov's canvases visibly transforms into a mysterious counterpoint, a polyphonic chord which paradoxically unites mercilessness and compassion, the bottomlessness of infernal spaces and the saving will to light, despair and hope, hell and purgatory. Capturing the drama (or comedy, in the Dantean interpretation) of unity and opposition to everything, the artist's optics nevertheless has the gift of penetrating into the abstract-concrete nature of space-time, including appeals to the oldest cultural codes and mythologemes. Igor Litvinov makes extensive use of the metaphysical plastic of the archaic as a means of purifying oneself from the dictates of linear logic and common sense in order to achieve the sacred ecstasy of clairvoyance, allowing the viewer to be led through the backside labyrinths of otherworldliness in order to prepare him for the cataclysms to come.
Igor Litvinov considers art and in particular the sacrament of picture-making to be an endless mystery without beginning or end, in which, once and for all, the artist breaks off all contact with anything and becomes wholly absorbed in the magical ritual as an irrational element of the unpredictable. A succession of seemingly wild, barbaric images born with his brush and temperament is shaped into a kind of pictorial action akin to shamanic rises and plunges into parallel worlds. As a result, the disturbing, stinging, impetuously aggressive, lethal strokes are transformed into an epic symphony of volcanic magma, the ideal building material of the end times.

Each canvas by Igor Litvinov is another radical experiment, a leap into the abyss, the madness of a brave professional who sacrifices his own spiritual-body existentialism, and, as an apotheosis, a furious dissection of reality designed to signify and confirm the artistic will of the author who in his own way manifests the eternal relevance of expressionism for the present and the future". Igor Dudinsky, art critic

Litvinov Igor

Igor Litvinov was born in 1962 in Vitebsk, a city which is one of the centers of classical avant-garde, where Chagall, Malevich, Lisitsky and other representatives of this trend lived and created. This determined the creative path of the author, who works in the style of abstract expressionism.

From 1983 to 1988 Litvinov studied at the Art and Graphic Department of Vitebsk State Pedagogical University.

At the end of the 1980s, he began attending the studio of Alexander Solovyov, the oldest abstractionist in Belarus. The relationship between the master and his pupil grew into a great friendship. It was this communication that laid the foundation on which Igor Litvinov's own style was formed.

From 1995 to 2017 Igor Litvinov lived in Nazareth, Israel. During this period the artist worked and exhibited a lot in different countries: Spain, Sweden, USA, etc.

In 2005, at the MoRA Museum in New Jersey, he took part in an exhibition devoted to Malevich, where works by Malevich and many nonconformists from Russia were on display.

Together with his creative work, his spiritual worldview is formed. Years of research into the phenomenon of personal freedom, the relationship between personal and creative freedom, the relationship between religion and contemporary art - all this is the basis of the artist's paintings.

Since 2017 Igor Litvinov lives and works in Moscow, is active in creative work, exhibiting in leading art spaces.

The works are in the collections of the Museum of Russian Art (New Jersey, USA), the Nesterov Bashkir State Art Museum (Ufa, Russia) and private collections in Russia and abroad. The works are in the collections of the M.I. Nesterov Bashkir State Art Museum (Ufa, Russia), Vitebsk Center of Contemporary Art (Vitebsk, Belarus) as well as in private collections in Russia and abroad.

SELECTED GROUP AND SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

2022 - St. Petersburg Art Fair "1703", a-s-t-r-a gallery, Manezh Central Exhibition Hall, St. Petersburg
2022 - Art Moscow Program at the 48th Russian Antique Salon, a-s-t-r-a gallery. Gostiny Dvor, Moscow
2021 - ARTSUMMER, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2020 - Personal Expressionism exhibition, Antique Center, Moscow
2020 - NEW REALITY. To the 100th anniversary of UNOVIS, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2019 - 5th ANTIBIENNALE, Central House of Artists, Moscow
2019 - 4th rencontre arts plastiques de Mesnil-Église, Belgium
2019 - "Litvinov and Friends", Gostiny Dvor, Moscow
2019 - 4th ANTIBIENNALE, Central House of Artists, Moscow
2018 - 3rd ANTIBIENNALE, Central House of Artists, Moscow
2018 - 2nd ANTIBIENNALE, Central House of Artists, Moscow
2018 - "Brutal tenderness" personal exhibition, Central House of Artists, Moscow
2017 - "Four Stories", Central House of Artists, Moscow
2017 - "Free Space", Central House of Artists, Moscow
2017 - 1st ANTIBIENNALE, Central House of Artists, Moscow
2017 - "ART-UFA", Ufa
2016 - Art Space, Vitebsk, Belarus
2015 - Center for Contemporary Art, Vitebsk, Belarus
2012 - Mika Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel
2010 - En-Hod Gallery, Haifa, Israel
2009 - Tsarskoselskaya Collection Museum, St. Petersburg
2009 - Volga Gallery, Moscow
2006 - Teatron, Haifa, Israel
2005 - MoRA Museum of Russian Art, New Jersey, USA
2004 - Gallery Agora, New York, USA
2003 - Bunker Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
2002 - Pyramida Gallery Haifa, Israel
2001 - Castro Gallery, Haifa, Israel
2000 - Angel Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel
1998 - Zafon Gallery, Haifa, Israel
1998 - Art Expo, Barcelona, Spain.
1997 - En-Hod Gallery, Haifa, Israel.
1993 - Center of Contemporary Art, Vitebsk, Belarus
1991 - Center of Marc Chagall, Vitebsk, Belarus

"Igor Litvinov's art is at the cutting edge of the problem of overcoming the personal emotional element for the sake of entering the open space of absolute pictorial freedom. The method chosen by the artist is not simply to show the obvious inferiority of "reality," but to contrast the absurdity of what is happening in the material world with the transcendental chaos in which absolute pain reigns. The fractured, distorted, deliberately caricatured human characters are presented in combination with a tragic, anxiously expressive, extremely tense abstract background.

However, this seemingly natural stylistic unity in Litvinov's canvases turns into a mysterious counterpoint - a polyphonic chord paradoxically combining ruthlessness and compassion, bottomless infernal spaces and the saving will to light, hopelessness and hope, hell and purgatory. Fixing the drama (or comedy - but in the Dantean interpretation) of unity and opposition of everything to everything, the artist's optics nevertheless has the gift of penetrating into the abstract-concrete nature of space-time, including through an appeal to the oldest cultural codes and mythologemes. Igor Litvinov actively uses the metaphysical plasticity of the archaic as a means of self-purification from the dictates of linear logic and common sense in order to achieve the sacred ecstasy of clairvoyance, allowing him to guide the viewer through the inferior labyrinths of otherworldliness in order to prepare him for the coming cataclysms.

Igor Litvinov considers art and especially the mystery of painting to be an endless mystery without beginning or end, once and for all, in which the artist breaks off all contact with anything and plunges completely into the magical ritual as an irrational element of the unpredictable. A succession of seemingly wild, barbaric images born with his brush and temperament is shaped into a kind of pictorial action akin to shamanic rises and plunges into parallel worlds. As a result, the disturbing, stinging, impetuously aggressive and lethal strokes are transformed into an epic symphony of volcanic magma, the ideal building material of the end times.

Each canvas by Igor Litvinov is another radical experiment, a leap into the abyss, the madness of a brave professional who sacrifices his own spiritual and bodily existence, and, as an apotheosis, a furious dissection of reality, designed to indicate and confirm the artistic will of the author, who in his own way manifests the eternal relevance of expressionism for today and for tomorrow". Igor Dudinsky, art critic