The Russian Academy Of Arts

Dates: September 22 – October 29, 2023

Venue: The Museum and Exhibition Complex of the Russian Academy of Arts (19 Prechistenka street, Moscow)

The Russian Academy of Arts presents a major retrospective of the watercolor painting by the People’s Artist of Russia, Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, the founder and Head of the Academy of Watercolor and Fine Arts Sergey Andriyaka timed to the his 65^th anniversary. The jubilee exhibition features almost 300 watercolor works produced  by the master in various years.

Sergey Andriyaka is a world renowned artist working in many techniques, including tempera, gouache, oil paints. He has devoted a significant part of his creative career to mosaics, stained glasses, etching, painting on enamel and porcelain, but the most favorite and important for him is watercolor painting. A  staunch supporter of realism the artist has been developing in his art the traditions of classical watercolor painting. He creates his works fr om nature and from memory without any preliminary sketches in pencil (except for complicated architectural motifs), they are distinguished by their special charm, poetry and lyricism. With the help of multi-layering, both on the dry and wet surface of the paper sheet he reproduces the surrounding reality in detail masterfully conveying the finest color nuances. Sergey Andriyaka creates unique large-format watercolors not typical for this technique. His most favorite themes are the attractive beauty of monuments of Russian architecture and fleeting states of nature. The deep poetic perception of the world helps the artist to depict the spiritual majesty of Russian Orthodox churches, the loveliness of cozy streets of old Russian towns. In 1995 he was commissioned by the Moscow City Hall to paint a six meter long watercolor – the panorama of Moscow of the 19^th century. The artist recreated the color image of the 19^th century city according to the pictures from Naidenov’s photo-album dated 1867.  Sergey Andriyaka is confident, that the natural beauty lifts a person above the ordinary and therefore a special place in his work has been given to still lifes and depiction of flowers.  

Sergey Andriyaka is a representative of an art dynasty. His father Nikolai I. Andriyaka (1905-1977) – the Honored Artist of the Russian Federation worked as a teacher for the Moscow Secondary Art School under the USSR Academy of Arts and in his last years headed this School as its Director. Sergey N. Andriyaka graduated from V. Surikov Moscow State Art Institute, wh ere he majored in painting, in 1982.  While still studying at the Institute he began teaching at the above Moscow Art School and since 1985 has been a Senior Teacher of V. Surikov Moscow Art Institute. This teaching experience has allowed him to create his own unique system of continuing art education and the efficient author’s method of teaching the academic drawing and watercolor painting. In 1999 he founded his own School of Painting, and in 2002 – the Academy of Watercolor and Fine Arts, which he has been heading up to these days. Under his leadership the Academy has become one of the major methodic centers of art education in Russia. The artist’s more than 1000 solo exhibitions have been held in Russia and other countries, his pictures are in museum and private collections in many countries across the world.

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