The Russian Academy Of Arts

Dates: June 21 – July 9, 2023

Venue: Exhibition halls of the Russian Academy of Arts (21 Prechistenka street, Moscow)

The Russian Academy of Arts presents a jubilee exhibition of works by the noted master of graphic art, the Chief Artist of the “Crocodile” magazine, Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts Vladimir Mochalov. The exhibition entitled “In the Language of Irony and Sarcasm” features his portrait caricatures and grotesques, several dozens of images of famous people, as well as the artist’s oil paintings.

Vladimir G. Mochalov was born in Moscow in 1948. He studied at the Moscow School of Arts and graduated fr om the Moscow Polygraphic Institute wh ere he majored in graphics. He started his career as an engraver for the “Goznak” factory, for many years collaborated with such editions, as “The Youth”, “Village Life”, “New Time”, “Moscow Pravda”, “Izvestia”, “Sobesednik”, “New Russian Word”. Since 1991, the artist has gained an international recognition – his drawings have been published in the “Time”, “Newsweek”, “New Yorker” and a lot of other newspapers and magazines in Belgium, Austria, France, Japan, Turkey. The creative biography of Vladinir Mochalov is closely connected with the history of the well-known satirical “Crocodile” magazine, to which he has devoted more than 20 years of his work – from 1978 till the magazine’s very closing. In 1982 he was appointed its Chief Artist and Deputy Chief Editor, since  2022 -  a member of M. Grekov Studio of Military Artists. Vladimir Mochalov has become famous mostly for his graphic sheets executed in the genre of satirical portrait and grotesque. The witty, bold and amazing caricatures are the master’s distinctive sign. The artist writes about his work: “I have made portraits of those who willingly or unwillingly influenced the 20^th century world history and the history of Russia.  I have always been interested in politics. I see and understand this country better through politics. I am keen on history and a caricature makes it possible to express my attitude to the past and present”.

One more important stage of the master’s creativity is his turning to the technique of oil painting. He began painting portraits in oil in the 2000s, that was very exciting for his contemporaries and connoisseurs of his art. In one of his interviews Vladimir Mochalov has admitted: “For me it has also happened unexpectedly. For thirty five years I have not used oil paints, I have had a psychological fear of the easel and have always considered myself a graphic artist. A simple accident  - a talk with my close friend about painting – has resulted in my returning to the palette”.  The exhibition at the Russian Academy of Arts is a rare opportunity to see both the traditional graphic works by Vladimir Mochalov and his experiments in oil painting.




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