In anticipation of the opening of the exhibition "The Miser Russian landscape" we tell about one of its members - artists and poets unofficial art, stood at the origins of Moscow Conceptualism

Nikita Alexeev
Source : vozduh.afisha.ru

For me, life and art - is the same .
That is the heartbeat , and most importantly ,
to pulse was steady .
Inhale - Exhale , about eighty extensions
and compressions per minute between them - a plateau .
Nikita Alexeev

If conceptualism , saying simply , always moving in the direction of complexity
multiplication of meanings and texts , then Nikita Alexeev , on the contrary , always hunted
sensual and ineffable , for ease and simplicity .
Anton Horlenko

April 5 at the art center " Gridchinhall " presents " Stingy Russian landscape ." United by a common theme ( each word in which we observe significant) , the work of artists Nikita Nikita Alexeev and Boris Matrosov appear in the exhibition as separate replicas , each in their own language , but together they offer the viewer a clear and fascinating artistic dialogue .

On one of the authors of the exhibition - Nikita Alexeev - our story .

Nikita Alexeev Feliksovich born in Moscow on 12 January 1953 . Pretty private person , he is not inclined to share information about his personal life , his childhood and youth with the public. But some important facts in the public domain is still there. For example, parents' social circle - , Zverev , Krasnopevtsev , and other Costacis then still very young artists, poets, other art collectors . Visited each other's homes , write, draw , arguing, read poetry . And there is nothing surprising in the fact that once allowed age, 11 -year-old Nikita took study at the Moscow Art School at MGHI them . Surikov .

In 1968 , having completed eight grades of secondary schools and 4-year schools of art , Alekseev entered the department of commercial art and advertising of the Moscow Regional School Memory 1905 , alma mater D. Plavinsky , D. Krasnopevtseva , B. Sveshnikov , Roginskii , etc. By the way , laconic , almost graphically " documentalism " Roginskii ( they met in 1967, shortly before his departure Roginskii France ) had a pretty strong influence on his own pictorial language Alekseeva .

second passion Nikita Alexeev , along with the visual arts , has become the world of the book. The book interested him as an object of artistic activity , and how the subject - that is actually a literary its content. In the late 1960s he joined the circle of young poets A. Monastery Moscow , N. Panitkov , Rubinstein . In the first half of 1970 Alekseev not just read his poetry at various "underground" readings .

In 1973 Alekseev continued education on artistic and technical faculty of the Moscow Polygraphic Institute , where he true, he studied only three courses because it own artistic interests by this time reached far beyond the boundaries of what was taught at the institute .

Nikita Alexeev Untitled . 8 works Paper , mixed media , collage. 48 × 36 The Bru Sale. 03/12/2013 Lot 52 Estimate :1000 -1500 euro Source : auction.fr

Nikita Alexeev You have not seen anything ? 1987 oilcloth , color ink , acrylic. 140 × 250 Source : photographer.ru

By the early 1970s Alekseev seriously interested in new art emerging in the medium of artists ' Sretensky Boulevard " in the first place creative quest I. Kabakov , I. Chuikov . He is fascinated by the idea of styling , and the use of text books as independent elements of artistic expression. Interestingly, the artist himself defines his early work as " surrealistic abstraction wing " that has arisen in the wake of culture R. Magritte . An example of such a " surreal abstraction " can serve as a series of " Poetry of things ", which describes how Alekseev « dozen or so ( do not remember ) of sawed and painted hardboard " bogus " - bag string bag of oranges , a bottle of yogurt, kind of book , slide household garbage ». He wanted to create a feeling of not object silhouette , but really existing object - a kind of ready-made vice versa. « Powerful impression on me Andrew Monastery , who had recently moved from writing texts to manufacturing facilities ».

One of the most important stages in the work of Nikita Alexeev - work in the" collective action " in 1976-1983 years. Founded friend of the artist , poet Andrei Monastyrski , since his first action ( "Appearance ", March 13, 1976 ) This group defines the appearance and largely influenced the development of Moscow conceptualism in general - for example, in 1979, with the active participation Alexeyev started building Moscow Archive of New art (MANI ) . At various times in the actions and performances groups participated Ilya Kabakov , Oleg Oleg Vasiliev , Erik Bulatov , Ivan Chuikov , Vsevolod Nekrasov , Boris Groys , Lev Rubinstein , Gorokhovskiy , Victor Brewers , Juice , Francisco Infante , Joseph Backstein etc.

By the early 1980s - Nikita Alexeev x became a prominent figure among the younger generation of artists unofficial art . In particular, Ilya Kabakov placed him as one of the characters in his installation " Nome or Moscow conceptual circle" (Hamburg, 1993) - dedicated to the people that formed in the 1970s and 80s the very notion of Moscow conceptualism .

Nikita Alexeev Pushkin poncho . 1990 Oil on canvas. 161 × 140 Source : artprotest.org

Nikita Alexeev series " Agonal drawings ." 2003 Paper and pencil. 42 × 30 Source : art4.ru

1982 Alekseev organized in his own studio apartment gallery " APTART " ( Aptart - apartment art), designed to show exhibitions, actions and performances of young artists. Here, the second generation of unofficial art could be issued without regard to members of the ruling authority and pressure style pillars of non-conformism .

In 1980 Alekseev running series, creates objects , paintings , mastering a variety of graphic art. It is still interested in forming shapes , he experimented with many different texture , mixing on the surface of different types of canvas fabric , foil , relief elements . In painting and drawing Alekseeva to mid-1980s, experts highlight some recurring motifs : dog, crow , moon, star , cross , etc. In 1984, he began to cover canvases colored wide and short overlapping strokes , as well as for some series used instead of canvas table-cloth woven on the basis of up to 4 meters. Both of these innovations eventually call it proprietary techniques .

Nikita Alexeev From the series " Summer pictures." 2005 Paper , oil pastel . 4 parts. 75 × 105 (each ) Source : photographer. ru

Nikita Alexeev Japanese landscape ( view from the window chamber number 637 , clinic them . Sechenov . Morning 12.12.2009) acrylic on canvas Source : open-gallery.ru

In 1987 , after the fall of the Iron Curtain , Nikita Alexeev emigrated to France . At about this time he began to sign his work alias " Alexei Nikitin ».

In Paris, he creates mostly schedule - and separate sheets, and objects in the genre of " artist's book ", the latest at the beginning of 1990 he was involved in most activities : participated in exhibitions devoted to art books, produced several albums , comics , in which particularly attracted his natural , organic coexistence of image and text .

in 1993 Alexeev returned to Moscow. Initially, as a curator held a series of exhibitions of contemporary art, and in 1996 headed the cultural department of the weekly " foreigner ." Editorial activity ended in 2004, when Alekseev « quite unexpectedly received a three-month scholarship fund Brodsky at the American Academy in Rome » and went to work in Rome .

from Italy to Moscow, he returned three months later with a box of drawings - series "Poetry things -2 ." By the early 2000s applies monochrome graphic design " Agonal pictures " : every day he painted one graphic sheet , introducing the last day of his life. Total was about 1000 sheets. Next graphic series " Towel . Memories of Summer " was already done in color .

Nikita Alexeev Poetry -2 things . 2004 Coloured pencil on paper . 70 × 100 Gallery Marina Goncharenko (GMG Gallery) Source : russiandreams.info

Nikita Alexeev Winter landscape with orange sky. 2013 Acrylic on canvas . 100 × 120 Source : gridchinhall.ru

NIKITA ALEXEEV Untitled . Three works . 1991 Paper, gouache, ink . 55,5 × 75 (each ) Sotheby's. 25.11.2013 . Lot 189 Estimate: 1 200-1 800 pounds Result: 3000 pounds Source : sothebys.com

Nikita Alexeev Untitled . Four work. 1991 Watercolour and ink . 74,5 x 55,5 Sovcom . 04/03/2014 . Lot 166 Estimate: 000-180 120 000 Source : sovcom.ru

Most sales artist a gallery refers to , but recently work Alekseev appeared in the auction catalog . The largest deal of his works was made November 25, 2013 at the London auction house Sotheby's. Then the set of three figures in 1991 sold for £ 3,000 (estimate £ 1200-1800 ) , and another set of four watercolors and 1991 - over 2250 pounds .

At the next auction " scoop " April 3, 2014 lot of 4 work Alekseeva " Untitled " will be put up for auction with an estimate of 120 000-180 000 .

Maria Kuznetsova , AI

Sources : artinvestment.ru , gridchinhall.ru , gridchinhall.ru , ru.wikipedia.org , conceptualism-moscow.org , artprotest.org , artguide.com , art4.ru , azbuka.gif.ru , open-gallery.ru , russiandreams.info , A . Kovalev Author Index . Moscow: New Literary Review , 2005