The Russian Academy Of Arts

Dates: December 20, 2017 – January 08, 2018
Venue: Exhibition Halls of the Russian Academy of Arts
21 Prechistenka street, Moscow

The Russian Academy of Arts presents a major retrospective of the People’s Artist of Russia, Winner of State Prizes of Russia, Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts Boris Messerer. The exhibition features almost 100 paintings and graphic works created by the master for the last decade.

The world renowned set designer Boris Messerer is an author of more than 150 opera, ballet and drama performances, many of them became the classics of Russian theater art. The artist is internationally known for his work on ballet performances that were shown in Europe, America, Japan and brought him worldwide fame. Inventive and tireless in his innovative set designs Boris Messerer worked for major Russian theaters in partnership with celebrated stage directors of our time.

The unique talent of Boris Messerer, his creative vigor and strife for universality have revealed themselves in various areas of fine arts: in theater and decorative art, painting, graphics, design, monumental art, sculpture, architecture. Boris Messerer has a rare gift of transforming things in theater performances. Using diverse means of figurative expressiveness he gives to performances a new sounding and comprehension. In his stage designs the most ordinary things frequently obtain a symbolic meaning, spirituality and vitality.

The artist’s paintings and graphic works are akin to the theater. Many of his easel works contain the features of stage design such as constructivism and spatial solutions. The diverse retrospective exposition at the Russian Academy of Arts showcases the artist’s portraits of his beloved wife, friend and poet Bella Akhmadulina and his cousin, the great ballet dancer Maya Plisetsskaya, pictorial compositions from his Ballet Dancers series, color etchings on the Dancing in Retro Style theme, watercolor cityscapes and still-lives with flower compositions.

Boris Messerer is enthusiastically engaged in easel graphic, in particular, etching.
He has designed a unique machine allowing to create large format sheets which very much enhance the decorativeness of graphic works. The artist is also an author of a unique printing technique for production of layered color etchings with subtle color palette and specific architectonics.

The installations of Boris Messerer are one more contribution to the promotion of spatial arts. The creation of the complex, multi-scale structures has been a result of the artist’s attempts to implement his creative plans in architecture, design and monumental art. For many years he has been actively working on realization of the idea of synthesis of arts.

The not less important area of his creative work is an exhibition design. Boris Messerer is an author of concepts and art design for over 30 prestigious exhibitions and art shows in such major museums as A. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, State History Museum, the “Manezh” Central Exhibition Hall and many others.

The retrospective exhibition at the Russian Academy of Arts is a good opportunity to appreciate the unique talent of Boris Messerer, to sense the spirit of his searches for innovative and a bold experiments which have always distinguished the creative work of this brilliant master.  

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