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NEWS: Boris Chetkov exhibition and book launch to open Russian Art Week in London Posted in: Art, Russian art- Sep 16, 2013 Comments Off on NEWS: Boris Chetkov exhibition and book launch to open Russian Art Week in London Re-Imagining Russia: the Landscape and Genre Paintings of Boris Chetkov 22-24 November 2013 Westbury Hotel, London
Boris Chetkov, Bazaar in Samarkand, 1994. Courtesy of Pushkin Gallery
The Pushkin Gallery, in collaboration with Russian Art and Culture, are delighted to present the first UK exhibition of works by major contemporary artist Boris Chetkov. Re-Imagining Russia: The Landscape and Genre Paintings of Boris Chetkov will open at the Westbury Hotel in Mayfair during Russian Art Week November 2013 and is guest curated by the event’s director Theodora Clarke. The exhibition will look specifically at Chetkov’s highly personal depiction of life in twentieth century rural Russia. A key theme throughout the work of Chetkov is the communication of a raw and emotional response to the natural and physical world. Be it a still life, landscape, portrait or genre painting, Chetkov strove to capture the emotional and dynamic essence of his subject. Mixing hints of folk art and primitivism, spirituality and the pre-war avant-garde, Chetkov’s style is visually and thematically reminiscent of the early works of Wassily Kandinsky, Natalia Goncharova and Mikhail Larionov. His landscape paintings, showing the rivers, forests and
historic churches of Russia transform the local countryside through gestural brush sweeps and vibrant colours, engaging with the environment on a conscious and subconscious level.
Boris Chetkov, Ladoga Landscape, 1979. Courtesy of Pushkin Gallery.
This exhibition will also be a celebration of Chetkov’s life and work in light of the artist’s death in 2010. Born during the most oppressive years of the Soviet Union, Chetkov spent his early life on communal farms before being imprisoned in the infamous Gulag Archipelago during his late teens. After combat in the Second World War and his subsequent release from detention, Chetkov studied the art of glass making and began to paint in isolation from established artistic groups and schools. For the duration of his career Chetkov followed his own vision apart from any conscious trend or political movement, separated from the work of Nonconformist and conceptual contemporaries such as Ilya Kabakov, Vladimir Yankilevsky and Oskar Rabin, Chetkov’s works display a quiet, personal and very different type of rebellion against the imposed norm. He never sought out the acceptance of these other underground artists and was never recognized by them or accepted by the establishment of ‘Soviet’ artists. In a sense, he had no peers. Yet he never held any grudges or harboured any bitterness; he remained content in his own world. Chetkov was a bold experimenter who took artistic risks which resulted in the creation of original and stunning images. This exhibition will explore the unique development of Chetkov’s career and feature works ranging from his earliest compositions in the 1960s to those executed in the final decade of his life.
Boris Chetkov, Green Meadow and Flowers, 1969. Courtesy of Pushkin Gallery.
The exhibition is timed to coincide with Russian Art Week, the leading bi-annual Russian art event in the UK when major paintings and works of Russian art are sold and exhibited in London. Showing for a strictly limited period, the exhibition will take place on the first weekend of Russian Art Week and act as the official opening of the event. An accompanying catalogue will be available for purchase containing a number of previously unpublished works by the artists and an academic essay by Theodora Clarke, who will analyse Chetkov’s works within the context of modernism in the twentieth century and the rise of abstract painting. The book will take a biographical approach to introduce Chetkov to a new audience and includes previously unseen archival material. The publication also features a number of early works dating from 1955-1973.
Re-imagining Russia; The Landscape & Genre Painting of Boris Chetkov, by Theodora Clarke
The Pushkin Gallery was founded by Kenneth Pushkin, member of the noble Pushkin family and founder of the bilateral non-profit Pushkin Fund. Located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Pushkin Gallery is dedicated to showcasing and developing important, yet little known life collections of Russian artists. Recent additions to the gallery include the lifetime collections of Boris Chetkov (1926-2010), Nikolai Timkov (1912-1993), Vasily Golubev (1925-1985), Viktor Korovin (1936-1991) and Vasily Borisenkov (1924-2005) as well as selected works by historic (19th and early 20th Century) Russian painters. To accompany these collections, Mr. Pushkin has published a series of high quality scholarly books and catalogs (and most recently the innovative Chetkov mobile app) showcasing the lives and works of these Russian Masters. Theodora Clarke is founder and Editor of Russian Art and Culture, which publishes the best reviews, articles and news on Russian art, related exhibitions and interesting cultural events in the UK. In November 2012 she launched Russian Art Week, a sister website and published a new guide which collates information on all the Russian sales and related events in London. For more information or to obtain images contact Theodora at: editor@russianartandculture.com or call +44 (0) 203 691 4508. http://www.pushkingallery.com/