Oleg Khvostov

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Oleg Khvostov
USSR
NationalityRussian
Known forPainting
Websiteolegkhvostov.com

Oleg Khvostov (born 19 October 1972) is a Russian painter, representative of naïve art.[1] Since 2001 he's a member of the Russian Union of Artists and the Free Culture society since 2004. Currently lives and works in Saint Petersburg.[2][3]

Biography

Early years

Oleg Khvostov was born in

Leningrad in 1972 and spent his early years on Narodnaya street, in Vesely Poselok district. His school-time passion for doodling and drawing caricatures of his classmates and teachers later on grew into keen interest in painting when one of his classmates, fascinated with the hippie culture, introduced Oleg to Nicholas Roerich's art. Thereafter Khvostov began to attend an educational studio on Ligovsky prospect and got a more thorough understanding of classical Russian art and works of Ilya Repin, Ivan Shishkin, Ivan Kramskoi
.

After graduating from school Khvostov served in the

Repin Academy of Arts, but decided to choose real-life experience over getting a degree in Arts.[3][4]

Early career, 1993 — 1997

In the early 1990s Khvostov saw the artists at

geometric objects’ planes by a particular algorithm for 1.5 year in order to master his techniques. Oleg started teaching himself how to draw self-portraits and used to finish several in a single day. In the following years this series has gradually risen to several thousands of paintings. Artistic revision of the famous paintings in Khvostov's own technique was another part of self-education.[5]

In 1997 Oleg showed the photos of his works to the Boray gallery curators in Saint Petersburg and they featured them in the gallery's summer exhibition. His paintings draw attention of the local celebrities – Vladimir Kozin and Vadim Flyagin from the artistic group The New Stupid.[4]

The New stupid, 1998 – 2001

Group portrait of "the New Stupid" art group, paper, tempera, collage, 2000
The Anatomy lesson, paper, acryl, 2000

They met in person a little later and in 1998 Khvostov joined "the New stupid" art group. "The New Stupid" followed the principles of an early futurism and Dadaism and favoured action art and performance art over painting, sculpture and installation art. Oleg participated in numerous art projects and continued to do painting, for his primitive artistic style was in accord with the ideas of this art group.[6]

The fame of "The New Stupid" gave the artist more prominence in the art community. Through "the New Stupid" Khvostov got acquainted with fine art experts Gleb Ershov and Andrei Klyukanov who at that moment worked in Navicula Artis gallery. In 1999 they organized his first

solo exhibition "Self-portraits — 200+1", which consisted of only a part of the artist's series. In 2000 Khvostov shifted to the large format and started to use emulsion paint and paper. The New Stupid society leader, Vadim Flyagin, became his first model. Then there was a comic series "Curators’ portraits" representing notable art critics of Saint Petersburg and galleries’ staff. These works led to Khvorostov getting an order to paint a multi-figured portrait for the anniversary of the "Leningrad Art Critics Club", founded by Ivan Chechot. For this portrait the artist took as a basis the renowned painting The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp by Rembrandt. He illustrated a figurative dead body as a "body of art" prosected by Chechot and his students.[7]

In 2001 Khvostov and "The New Stupid" parted ways. Oleg left the group in the rank of the ‘honorary member’ and focused on painting.[4]

Saint Petersburg, 2000 – 2005

In the early 2000s Khvostov developed his own technique – he used piles of carton boxes acting as a divisible canvas. His first series on carton boxes was exhibited in September 2000 in the Pushkinskaya 10 Art Centre. This project, named "Memorial of leaders", included portraits of

Ernesto Che Guevara with Vladimir Putin being the pivotal figure of the series.[8][9]

"Memorial of Leaders" was highly valued within the art community. First of all, Khvostov was awarded with the honorary prize "Propylaeum" by the "New art world" magazine and the "Artist of the year 2000" title. Second, at the exhibition in the Museum of Non-conformist Art the "Memorial" attracted attention of the

Marat Guelman, who devised to present a special project of Saint Petersburg artists at the annual "Art Moscow" fair.[10]

Lenin in the Underground, acryl, canvas, 2001

In May, 2001 Khvostov finished working on the "New Leniniana" series in which he illustrated the revolutionary leader as a character of the folk art. In his absurd Leniniana the artist played with the scenes of

Napoleon Bonaparte, Stalin, Hitler, robotic Venus de Milo, Rome imperor Nero, Titanic and himself its main characters. The "New Leniniana" was presented for the first time at the exhibition organized by "Navicula Artis" gallery and Pushkinskaya 10 Art Centre in the Razliv Lenin Museum.[11][12]

In 2003 Khvostov won a grant from the Pro Arte Foundation for Culture and Arts to create an exhibition project in

The State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg. His works became a part of the "Passport" display that was a part of the "Shtuchki" exhibition project. It was organized by the fund and the museum upon an initiative of the historic Lev Lurie and with support of the Ford Foundation.[13] Its aim was to introduce citizens to daily necessities of the past, provided by different Saint Petersburg museums, by locating them in the same display area along with contemporary art objects. At the March exhibition three official documents from different eras were presented: 1838 residence permit for living in Saint Petersburg, citizeness Sokolova's passport issued in 1939, and a passport from 1904. For this "Passport" project Olge Khvostov painted 3 portraits of their owners based on the descriptions given.[14][15]

Since January 2000 to January 2001 he continued working on the series of his self-portraits for the new exhibition, organized by Aleksander Florensky in the Mitki Art Centre. Though it was named "1000 self-portraits", the artist presented an additional painting to Dmitry Shagin to include it in the gallery's collection.[2] By 2003 the number of Khvostov's self-portraits grew up to 3000 and the Borey gallery commemorated the exhibition to the 300 years anniversary of Saint Petersburg.[16] In 2005 some of the Khvastov's self-portraits were included in the "Human portrait" display, presented by the National Centre for Contemporary Arts within the 1st Moscow Biennnale of Contemporary Art special program.[17]

Apart from that, in 2001 Oleg Khvostov took part in Biennale of Contemporary Art in Tirana, organized by Giancarlo Politi, the ‘Flash Art’ magazine publisher, and art critic Helena Kontova.[4]

Collaboration with Marat Guelman Gallery, 2005 — 2006

Guelman and Bondarenko, tempera, acryl, carton boxes, 2006

Oleg Khvostov got acquainted with

Tiziano, also painted on the carton boxes and potentially divided into blocks. However, the exhibition in Marat Guelman's Gallery wasn't held and in 2006 Oleg came back to Saint Petersburg.[21]

In January, 2007 the "Venus" by Khvostov became a part of the "Thaw" exhibition in the

State Russian Museum Marble Palace. The exhibition dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the Marat Guelman Gallery was a continuation of the permanent exposition of 70 paintings by contemporary Russian artists that Guelman donated to the museum in 2001.[4][22][23][24]

Collaboration with Gridchinhall, 2009 – 2012

The Venus of Urbino (after Tiziano), installation, carton boxes, acryl, 2006
Banya (after "Banya" by Zinaida Serebryakova), canvas, oil, 2010

Three year later Khvostov accepted the invitation of the art dealer and art collector Sergey Gridchin and moved to Moscow again. He resided in the

Zinaida Serebryakova.[26] By that time Khvostov's individual artistic style as a naïve artist had fully developed. Moreover, during this time period an image of a cow enters the artist's visual language as he saw them close for the first time while swimming in the ponds near the residence.[4]

In summer 2011 Khvostov and Gridchin handed the carton Kremlin to the

Dozhd television channel. This installation served as a film set for the "Ministry of Culture" program. It was also planned to be included in the Moscow Museum of Modern Art collection.[27][28]

During the lawsuit against punk-rock band

Moscow Contemporary Art Center Winzavod in August, 2012.[31]

Saint Petersburg, 2012 – 2015

Provence Landscape, canvas, acryl, 2012

On return from Gridchinhall Khvostov rented a studio on the territory of an ex-factory "Red triangle" and started working on his new series of landscapes. On February, 14 in 2013 he presented his new works in the "Lust" series at the exhibition in the AL Gallery.

argot[33] In October, 2013 Khvostov's paintings were presented at SWAB Barcelona, International contemporary art fair, in November – became a part of the AL Gallery's stand at the art fair Contemporary Istanbul 2013.[34][35] In February, 2014 his "New Leniniana" series was repeatedly exhibited in Razliv for the jubilee exhibition "90", commemorated to Vladimir Lenin's memorial day.[36] On the exhibition closing day the artist handed all eight works of the series to the Razliv Lenin Museum.[37] The next Khvostov's exhibition is planned in Gridchinhall for December, 2015 and January, 2016. It is going to include his latest works, painted in 2014-2015х.[4][38]

Artistic style

Let me take this opportunity to say, that I still consider him one of the most interesting artists of Saint Petersburg and it’s sad that we couldn’t work it out back in the day

— Marat Guelman

All the researchers of Khvostov's works emphasize the role of self-education in the development of his own artistic style. Dmitry Pilikin, an artist, curator, vice director of SPbSU Diaghilev Museum of modern art, and Andrei Kovalev, art critic, fine arts expert and lecturer at the Faculty of Arts of the Moscow State University, agree that the lack of artistic education saved Khvostov's works from the formal attributes of genre and need to follow the canons of art.[6]

Khvostov used the following material for copying —

Black Square by Kazimir Malevich. This choice was also specifically emphasized by Ekaterina Andreeva, leading research associate of the State Russian Museum Department of the new wave, art critic and curator, characterizing Khvostov as an "absurdist primitivist painter of the hermitage museum culture". She believes that it was an inheritance of traditions of the Leningrad necrorealism of the 1980s that brought along a harmonious cooperation of Khvostov and others from "the New Stupid" both art groups grew from the "New artists" movement.[7]

No, it’s not difficult to find a model, but it’s easier to draw yourself. You yourself are the most disciplined and untiring sitter. Narrow bounds allow to focus on a single object, investigate his psychology

— Oleg Khvostov, interview for "Bohemian Petersburg" magazine

postimpressionists, hold a special place among cross-cutting themes of Khvostov's art works. Stanislav Savistsky (art critic, curator, lecturer of the Saint Petersburg State University Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences) in his "Absolute painting" exhibition review pinpointed some patterns of Khvostov's portraiture. In his remakes of classical works and ultimate series of self-portraits the art expert traced a commonness of geometric forms, which led him to the conclusion that any of Khvostov's portraits actually, to a varying degree, is a self-portrait – a way of searching for the artist's self-identity. Among Khvostov's portraits Pilikin emphasized his taste for illustrating political leaders, public men, people of religion and mass art as another cross-cutting theme, for the artist considers them to represent the spirit of his times.[39]

In her interview for the online-journal "Bohemian Petersburg" poet and artist Irina Dudina named some specifics of Oleg's works the following way: blue and green faces, Peterburg-style elegant primitivism and quite pushy avant-garde.[40] Anton Uspensky, leading research associate of the State Russian Museum Department of the new wave, compared Khvostov's style to the basic Adobe Photoshop tool — gradient, by the means of which he fills canvas with various geometric forms. Pilikin also added planes and cows to the list of important elements of the artist's visual language, which appeared in his works after the year spent in Gridchinhall. Sometimes cows become the main characters of his paintings, sometimes they are not more than a part of the scenery.[41]

Selected exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

  • 1999 — Self portraits — 200+1, Navicula Artis Gallery, St. Petersburg
  • 2000 — Full-length Painting — Pushkinskaya 10 Art Centre, St. Petersburg
  • 2000 — Leader`s Memorial — Pushkinskaya 10 Art Centre, St. Petersburg
  • 2001 — 1000 self-portraits — Mitky Art Centre, St. Petersburg
  • 2001–2002 — The New Leniniana — Razliv Lenin Museum, Leningrad region
  • 2003 — 3000 self-portraits — Borey Gallery, St. Petersburg
  • 2004 — One portrait: the making of — Mitky Art Centre, St. Petersburg
  • 2004 — The Call of the Wild — Insterburg Fortress historical and cultural center, Chernyakhovsk, Kaliningrad region
  • 2004 — I was born with love for art — Navicula Artis Gallery, St. Petersburg
  • 2007 — Oleg Khvostov Painting — Asa-Art Gallery of Arts, St. Petersburg
  • 2010 — Landscape instinct — National Centre for Contemporary Arts, St. Petersburg
  • 2010 — Absolute painting — Gridchinhall, Moscow
  • 2013 — Lust — AL Gallery, St. Petersburg
  • 2014 — Lavandos — "Cultural Alliance", Marat Guelman's Project. Winzavod. Moscow

Group exhibitions

  • 2000 — New Petersburg Expressionism — Museum of Non-conformist Art, St. Petersburg
  • 2001 — Biennale of Contemporary Art in Tirana — Tirana, Albania
  • 2002 — Давай! Davaj — Postfuhramt, Berlin, MAK Museum, Vienna
  • 2003 — Passport — Pro-Arte Institute, St. Petersburg
  • 2005 — 1st Moscow Biennnale of Contemporary Art — Central House of Artists, Moscow
  • 2005 — From Petersburg — non-commercial project by M. Guelman at Art Moscow Art Fair, Central House of Artists, Moscow
  • 2005 — Face Portrait — M`ARS Centre for Contemporary Arts, Moscow
  • 2006 — Collage in Russia - 20th century — State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
  • 2006 — Presentation of Marat Guelman's Contemporary art funding agency, ARTPLAY Design centre, Moscow
  • 2007 — Thaw — State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
  • 2009 — Lenin from A to Z — Museum of Political History of Russia, St. Petersburg
  • 2009 — Stalin — Museum of Political History of Russia, St. Petersburg
  • 2009 — Khrushchev+Brezhnev+... — Museum of Political History of Russia, St. Petersburg
  • 2009 — Art about Art — State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
  • 2009 — Russian Beauty — National Centre for Contemporary Arts, Moscow and Red triangle Art Centre, St. Petersburg
  • 2013 — Navicula Artis 1992—2012. Found in St. Petersburg — Kultprosvet gallery, Moscow[42]

Collections and auctions

Oleg Khvostov's works are included in the collections of Marat Guelman's Gallery, Gridchinhall and many private collections.[43][44] Paintings from the collection of Omsk businessman Oleg Usachev have been exhibited in Barnaul, Krasnoyarsk, Novokuznetsk, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Tomsk, Tyumen, Ufa and other Siberian cities within the "Personal history" exhibition in 2012–2013.[45][46][47] Paintings from the series "Absolute painting" and "Lust" were brought to the hammer at the Russian auction Vladey.[48] Among other public deals are sales from the "Gridchinhall" stand at the Art Space Event Fair.[49][50][51]

Notes

Sources

  1. ^ Конохин, Николай (20 October 2000). "Художники и поэты обзавелись премией в 3600 долл" (in Russian). Art-info // Арт-Питер. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  2. ^ a b Николай Конохин (2001-02-04). "Выставка автопортретов О. Хвостова" (in Russian). Museum.ru. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Oleg Khvostov's Biography on Gif.ru Website" (in Russian). Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Pilikin 2015, pp. 9–13
  5. ^ "На выставке Олега Хвостова предстанет картонный Кремль" (in Russian). Бета Пресс. 23 December 2010. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  6. ^ a b Kovalev 2015, p. 56
  7. ^ a b Andreeva 2015, p. 183
  8. ^ Конохин, Николай (15 September 2000). "Мемориал вождей» возглавил человек в спортивном кимоно" (in Russian). Art-info // Арт-Питер. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  9. ^ Вейрман, Андрей (4 June 2006). "Искусство путинописи". Политический журналъ. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  10. ^ "Открытие выставочного сезона в арт-центре "Пушкинская-10"" (in Russian). Museum.ru. 12 September 2009. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  11. ^ Майзель, Евгений (2001). "Искусство под пикник" (in Russian). Художественный журнал. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  12. ^ Конохин, Николай (4 February 2001). "Выставка автопортретов О. Хвостова" (in Russian). Museum.ru. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  13. ^ "Чудесный мир обыденных предметов" (in Russian). Museum.ru. 14 March 2003. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  14. ^ "В Петропавловской крепости завтра откроется выставка "Паспорт"" (in Russian). Росбалт. 13 March 2003. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  15. ^ "В Петропавловской крепости ввели паспортный режим". Коммерсантъ (in Russian). 18 March 2003. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  16. ^ Сиверина, Наталья (23 May 2003). "Аристократические штучки". Коммерсантъ (in Russian). Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  17. ^ "Человеческий проект» в рамках Мосбиеннале" (in Russian). Gif.ru. 13 December 2004. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  18. ^ "Oleg Khvostov's Bio on Gridchinhall Website". Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  19. ^ "Ежегодная Международная художественная ярмарка "Арт Москва"" (in Russian). Museum.ru. 24 May 2005. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  20. ^ "Художников поддержат инвестициями" (in Russian). Gif.ru. 27 March 2006. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  21. ^ Культурный Альянс. Проект Марата Гельмана». Событие: Lavandos, Олег Хвостов (in Russian). Центр современного искусства Винзавод». Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  22. ^ "Один гламур и никакого дискурса" (in Russian). Газета.ru. 26 January 2007. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  23. ^ "Галерея Гельмана отмечает день рождения в Русском музее" (in Russian). Polit.ru. 25 January 2007. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  24. ^ "Information on Thaw Exhibition on State Russian Museum Website" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  25. ^ Sorokina, Elena (14 April 2011). "Visit the modern art dacha". The Moscow News. Archived from the original on 15 July 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  26. ^ "Absolute Painting Review on Afisha Magazine Website" (in Russian). 6 November 2010. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  27. ^ "Гридчинхолл передает Кремль» телеканалу Дождь»" (in Russian). Дождь. 20 June 2011. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  28. ^ "Gridchinhall Facebook Page Post regarding the Khvostov's Kremlin Installation" (in Russian). 26 December 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  29. ^ "Представители художественной общественности России обратились с открытым письмом в поддержку участниц Pussy Riot" (in Russian). Независимая газета. 11 August 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  30. ^ "Автобусный арт-пробег за Pussy Riot проедет по Садовому" (in Russian). OpenSpace.ru. 3 March 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  31. ^ "На Винзаводе презентовали фотоальбом о Pussy Riot. Фоторепортаж" (in Russian). Ридус. 12 August 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  32. ^ "Oleg Khvostov's Bio on AL Gallery Website" (in Russian). Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  33. ^ "Культурная неделя: об эросе, природе и саентологии" (in Russian). BaltInfo.ru. 11 February 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  34. ^ "SWAB Barcelona 2013 Brochure" (PDF). 3 October 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  35. ^ Martyanova, Tatiana (18 November 2013). "How contemporary is Istanbul?". Flash Art Magazine. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  36. ^ "Новая Лениниана» осталась в музейном комплекс в Разливе" (in Russian). Официальный сайт Администрации Санкт-Петербурга. 17 February 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  37. ^ "Музей "вождя мирового пролетариата" в Разливе обзавелся "Новой Ленинианой"" (in Russian). Regnum. 28 February 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  38. ^ ""Cosmos Cows" Exhibition Announcement on Gridchinhall Website". Archived from the original on 8 August 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  39. ^ Савицкий, Станислав. "14 февраля - 10 марта 2013 в AL Gallery (СПб, Невский, 64) выставка Олега Хвостова "Похоть"" (in Russian). Art-info // Арт-Питер. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  40. ^ Дудина, Ирина. "Олег Хвостов" (in Russian). Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  41. ^ Uspensky, Anton (2015). "Хвостовский промысел". Диалог искусств. 5.
  42. ^ Атлас, Дарья (15 January 2013). "Искусство: главное за неделю" (in Russian). Colta.ru. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  43. ^ "Кого купить" (in Russian). Private banking and wealth management. 21 August 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  44. ^ Иванченко, Яна (29 July 2015). "В гостях: Современное искусство в резиденции Гридчинхолл" (in Russian). houzz. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  45. ^ Данилова, Гульнара (9 February 2013). ""Личную историю" показали в картинах" (in Russian). Российская газета. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  46. ^ "В Омске пройдёт масштабная выставка современного искусства" (in Russian). Аргументы и факты. 20 February 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  47. ^ "Работы омских художников увидят в других российских городах" (in Russian). БезФормата.ru. 24 February 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  48. ^ "List of deals on Oleg Khvostov's works on Artprice.com Website". Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  49. ^ "Oleg Khvostov's Profile on MutualArt.com Website". Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  50. ^ Дъяконов, Валентин (27 May 2013). "Галеристы поработали в выходные". Коммерсантъ (in Russian). Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  51. ^ Герасименко, Павел (21 October 2013). "Осень аукциониста" (in Russian). Art1.ru. Retrieved 15 December 2015.

Publications

  • Pilikin, Dmitry; Avanesova, Nadezhda; Gridchina, Svetlana; Andreeva, Ekaterina; Kovalev, Andrey (2015). Oleg Khvostov (catalogue). Moscow: ScanRus. p. 183.
    ISBN 978-5-4350-0096-2
    .

Additional links
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