THE EXHIBITION OF SCULPTURES BY THE HONORED ARTIST OF RUSSIA ANATOLY SMOLENKOV AT THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF ARTS
Dates: March 20 – April 7, 2024
Venue: Exhibition halls of the Russian Academy of Arts (21 Prechistenka street, Moscow)
The Russian Academy of Arts presents a solo exhibition of sculptures by the Honored Artist of Russia, Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, Professor Anatoly Smolenkov timed to his 70th anniversary. On display at the Russian Academy of Arts are the master’s several dozens of sculptural works of marble, granite and other materials.
The noted Moscow sculptor has created his original plaster language distinguished by the special integrity of the perception of art of the past and present. Anatoly Smolenkov is one of the best contemporary masters working with marble. This noble material, to which Anatoly Smolenkov has dedicated more than 30 years of his work, is reminiscent of the antiquity and Renaissance art and serves as a virtual bridge between the epochs connecting cultural spaces. The sculptor likes to work in series developing his ideas in several thematically paired images, which though diverse in themes supplement each other thus multiplying the intensity of meanings. In his cycles consisting of several compositions the sculptor presents not only the multi-sided interpretation of the chosen topic, but also creates large-scale spatial connections.
Anatoly Smolenkov often turns to eternal topics – life and death, love and hatred, treason and heroism. He is keen on a mystic character as a reflection of today’s reality. The master definitely modernizes the myth rethinking the accents and freely interpreting the plots and images fr om the point of view of a contemporary artist. He shows the universal feature of an ancient topic, its timeless nature, specifies the versatility of an image. The very important source for the master’s inspiration is the Bible, that is rightly called the most illustrated book of all the times. In the aesthetic comprehension of the Biblical topics the composition and form are of utmost significance for the sculptor. His artistic images are not illustrations of an antique myth or a Biblical story, but the synthesis of today’s artistic interpretations of eternal themes, they prove the high professional skills of the master.
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Anatoly P. Smolenkov was born in Zlatoust in 1954. In 1979 he graduated from S. Stroganov University for Arts and Industry wh ere he majored in monumental and decorative sculpture under the Academician Alexander N. Burganov. Since 1978 he has been participating in the Moscow, all-Russian and international exhibitions. For his creative career Anatoly Smolenkov has created over 30 monumental works. His easel works are in the collection of the “Burganov House” Moscow State Museum, as well as in museum and private collections in Russia and other countries. He is a member of the International Art Foundation, Chairman of the Sculpture Section of the Creative Artists’ Union of Russia. Since 2013 the sculptor has been teaching the monumental and decorative sculpture at S. Stroganov University of Arts and Industry.
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