Ilya Ovsyannikov “My Palace”
The project of the artist tells about the elusive time, the desire to stop the beautiful moment at any time. For the sake of finding his voice and place in eternity, the master makes countless walks through the grand museum, spies on the fate of the great images and closely watches the life unfolding outside its walls. Then, in the workshop, he gets rid of everyday fuss, works with scale and identifies dominants.
The exhibition is located in the imaginary hall of the music room, the intersection of the past, present and future, sparkling with a golden cage full of air and light. The history of pictorial impressions unfolds according to the principle “from the inside to the outside”, where ideas about the stable harmony and transience of human life fall into the views of the native city and the scenes with naked nature, enclosed in the framework of classical ideals.
Fragments of Elijah’s early works are hidden on the ceiling, where the study of the nature of the human body is inspired by the paintings of his beloved masters. On the walls is a series of deafening landscapes, unexpected views from the windows of the Hermitage to the postcard part of the cultural capital. These paintings are painted in a harsh, northern key, with a wide scope, restrained color, fine-cut details and bold accents. They do not repeat what they see, but artistically interpret, summarize reality.
The name of the exhibition is an ironic reference to the famous series of programs and the book of the same name by the director of one of the main treasuries of our country.
Text: Katya Mihatov
Music: Elina Lebedze and Ignat Hlobystin
Biography: Ilya was born in 1985 in the city of Leningrad, currently living in St. Petersburg. The first creative works were written back in the years of study at the Academy of A. L. Stieglitz in the 4th year, at the same time there was the first exhibition. The beginning of the training in painting and drawing began with preparatory classes at the Mukhinsky school (renamed during my student days at the A. L. Stieglitz St. Petersburg State Art and Industry Academy). Among the many teachers of the academy that I respect, Boris Ivanovich Shamanov, Dmitry Alexandrovich Shuvalov and Alexander Konstantinovich Zlobin stand out especially. The main specialty is an artist-restorer. At the moment I work as an artist.
In addition to painting, I was engaged in copying paintings in the Hermitage during my studies. It was an important and interesting experience.
Perhaps the art of Mikhail Fyodorovich Larionov influenced my style most of all, among other painters Francisco Goya, Georges Rouault, Albert Marche, Henri Matisse, Chaim Soutine, artists of the Leningrad School of Painting, the Circle group.
Recently, artists with whom I am friends continue to influence the style. The content of my art gradually comes to a constant form. Pictures are built in tone, color, warmth, rhythm. Statements take place on a plane and are carried out by the language of painting.
In painting – oil on canvas technique. At one time, he actively used cardboard, oil pastels, oil and other mixed media. In graphics, as a rule, oil, paper or ink, paper.
Now in painting I continue the theme of portraiture, landscape, less often still life and figured compositions.
