Only a few young artists now have in their youth thier own efficient style in most of their works of art. Darja Yankevich is among them. Her creative potential, original view and peculiarity has already attracted attention of many people in Moscow who are interested in contemporary art.
Darja Yankevich was born in 1985 in Moscow. Her development as an artist began in Krasnopresnenskaya Artistic School. Even there her work was highly appreciated – her diploma project was included in the Catalogue of best diplomas for all 60 years of this School’s exhistence.
All Darja’s life has been full of studies – she studied sculpture technique, history of art, graphic design... From early childhood she traveled a lot and trained her artistic skill painting the Russian nature of Siberia and the Volga region with oil. She drew fascinating places in Europe: Amsterdam, Prague and Stockholm. Owing to those trips this young artist developed an interest in the culture of different countries. Darja studied in the Institute of Asian and African Countries, where she absorbed numerous elements of unique cultures, and different moods and patterns of distant lands.
Darja now developed her own authentic view on the situation in the world of art– this also affects her creativity. This is what she says:” I was always delighted by eclecticism - I mean the mixture of cultures and traditions, mixture of art trends. Many people think that everything has been discovered in the world of art, that there’s nothing new to find. As for me, I think that now we have much more extraordinary ways to express our views and feelings, using the experience of previous generations. Actually, now we don’t really have any limitations for the creative mind to express ourselves – that’s why it is so easy and so difficult at the same time to find our own way.
For example, I like post-impressionists for their originality and the bright personality of each artist – you see, they were united in one rather relative trend. Many of them don’t belong to any special art school or art group. In my paintings I also like to combine effects, styles and textures (glossy, velvet, rough and crimped surface, elements of collage, sputtering, and also Indian ink, pen, classical technique). That’s why studies at the Academic Art School were of great value for me – my knowledge is like my formation, I can express everything through art which I cannot say by the means of words”.
Robert Ovakimyan
Robert Ovakimyan was born in 1966 in Kapan, Armenia and in early childhood he devoted himself to painting and
drawing. Since 1986 has lived and worked in St. Petersburg.
In the creative work of Robert Ovakimyan one can trace the development of the avant-guard's
ideas which are combined with the shrillness of feelings and purity of a colour so typical to the art schools
of Armenia. The influence of St. Petersburg tradition has also affected his painting, the laconic refinement
of the latter helps to achieve the perfection of composition and the precision of a stroke.
Since 1993 Robert Ovakimyan has cooperated with the Institute of Material and Artistic
Culture and in 2002 he became a member of the International Federation of Artists (IFA). Between 1989 and
2005 over 15 personal exhibitions of Robert Ovakimyan were held in St. Petersburg and abroad. One can see
his paintings in the permanent exposition at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Armenia, at the Paradzhanov
Museum and in the collection of the church community of the city of Nukarlebi in Finland, as well is in many
art galleries of St. Petersburg. The works of the artist are also included in private collections in Russia,
USA, Norway, France, Denmark, Holland, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Finland and Austria.
Alexander Volkov
Born in 1964 in Tashkent. Has participated in exhibitions since 1990. More than 20
exhibitions in St. Petersburg exhibition halls.
Volkov studied the history of Chinese art, art of Japanese engraving and Russian
Icon painting. Alexander works in different media, but his favorite is oil painting.
Volkov`s works are owned by a number of galleries and private collectors abroad.
Search for his own in art for the author of these pictures - is in his attempt to
understand life in all its complexity, philosophical profundity of his development.
The artist is "constructing" his own Petersburg. Rich in traditions, the city
requires modem views. It inspires the artist to look for a new figurative
language. He experiments, breaking the borders of genres, finding new vivid
language, sometimes unusual, beyond traditional conception of "Petersburg", but
strictly corresponding its spirit and mythology.
Viktor Malyshev
Graduated from the St.Petersburg Mukhinskoye Academy of Arts in 1967 as a specialist in monumental ceramics.
He used his skills as a ceramist to decorate the largest hotels, libraries and cultural centres in St.Petersburg
during the years of the Soviet Union. He is an artist who appreciates a wide range of different styles, naming works
by Kuindzhi, Levitan, Sovrasov and Salvadore Dali among his favourites, and this is reflected in his own art.
Victor Malyshev uses water-colours and is constantly looking for new ways to improve his technique. He has invented
numerous useful devices for his artistic process and continues to experiment with the structure, tone and size of
his paintings.
Malyshev looks for imperceptible beauty in ordinary landscapes, walks around St.Petersburg and trips outside the
city are his main sources of creative inspiration. He also draws on his travel experiences around Italy (Venice,
St.Marino), Scandinavia and the Baltic States. Landscapes are foremost in his artistic works and in most cases an
object and nature are fused together, becoming one and creating atmospheric harmony. However, portraits are just as
important to Malyshev. Concentrating on facial details and expressions rather than the overall effect, allows him to
better express individual personality.
Margarita Izotova
Women create life and beauty. Different kinds of women's labour such as spinning, braiding, or weaving, were
interpreted in mythology as mysterious actions that echo the cosmic process of creation. The artist Margarita
Izotova reminds us of this deep symbolism. Her favourite technique is the archetypical "living thread". In this
context one can remember the three fates known as Moirae or Parcae and the thread of Ariadne.
Margarita draws not with paints but with threads and fabrics. Formally her works can be defined as tapestries,
however they are unparalleled. The artist uses materials of different texture: plant and artificial fibres,
sometimes combining them with silk, kapron and acetate. Unbelievable richness in colour, striking collisions of
living textures - you feel like you are in front of extraterrestrial stained-glass windows, pierced with an
inscrutable light.
Izotova graduated from the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. Her works have been exhibited at more than 20 personal
exhibitions in Russia and abroad, including exhibitions at the Marble Palace at the Dyagilev Centre of Arts in
St. Petersburg (Russia), in the St. Petersburg Museum of the History of the City and the City's Sculpture, in the
State Museum of Arts in Ekaterinburg (Russia), at the Cultural Centre in Imatra (Finland), in the Create Centre
Gallery in Bristol (UK) and at the New Hall of the Cambridge University (UK).
All in all, the artist has over 40 tapestries; their total area is about 70 square meters. The works of
Margarita Izotova can be found in museums of St. Petersburg and other cities and in private collections in the USA,
Great Britain, New Zealand, Finland and Russia.
Sergey Frolakov
Sergey Frolakov was born in St. Petersburg in 1964. In 1994 he graduated from the St. Petersburg Academy of Design
and Applied Arts. His art has been exhibited since 1981 extensively in Russia and around the world. His main personal
exhibitions include the exposition in the Russian Union of Artists in 1993, the worldwide exhibition in Paris in1994,
the Russian Art exhibition in Geneva in 1996, the exposition in the Central House of Artist in Moscow in 2001 and the
exhibition in Munich in 2002 among others. Frolakov took part in world biennales of contemporary art in Innsbruck
(Austria) and Monte-Carlo, along with such painters as Ernst Fuchs, Andy Warhol, Giorgio de Chirico and HR Giger.
The works of Sergey Frolakov can be found in Russian and overseas collections, in the USA, France, Belgium, the
Netherlands, Germany and others, including the Fantasy Art Foundation collection in the Castle of Gruille,
Switzerland, and the collection of the International Graphic Design Centre in Ishikawa, Japan.
Sergey's style can be defined as symbolism. The artist is now very fond of the art of Arnold Boecklin, a Swiss
painter whose allegorical and fantastical paintings, many based on mythical creatures, anticipated 20th-century
surrealism. However, one can find in Frolakov's canvases the roots of a fantastic realism that is derived from 15th
century medieval European art represented by such great masters of the as Bosch, Bruegel, Cranach and di Cosimo.
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