About the Artist
INTRODUCTION
"The artist is the intermediary between the people and their subconscious,
and therefore must be a clairvoyant and a good psychologist"
Rostislav Barto
An insightful remark, taken as an epigraph, comes to mind when meeting the artworks of Aleksandr Fayvisovich, a Russian artist now living in New York City. This is not just about his portrait compositions, both painting and graphic, but also about the paintings of pure landscape or landscape-like genres. This feeling comes from the emotional tone of his work, the slow release of the feelings and senses contained in the works. The state of somewhat detached thoughtfulness, the unsteady associations born by them, and a special philosophy of artistic vision, become the main content.
Aleksandr Fayvisovich is a master of traditional style, and a thoroughly modern artist by nature of perception and feeling. He stands firmly on the positions of figurative art, perhaps with rare exceptions, not focusing much on objectivity and transforming natural impressions quite easily. Objective things, without losing their authenticity, are imbued with the subjective. The figurative-narrative beginnings in his works are noticeably weakened. They do not so much tell about something, as they evoke certain feelings, create a mood.
Even in purely, at first glance, practice drawings of the artist in the series of "Movement", "Dynamic pause", "Study of Rodin," there is a certain distancing from an academic problem, from demonstration of his professional acumen. Yet somehow completely unintentionally there still arises a palpable emotional weight.
This is revealed in the series of sketches "The Glance", in the graphic self-portrait, and especially in the series of drawings "September 11". The personal differences and the involuntary commonness of a reaction, unified by the unseen tragedy: a feeling of being dazed, deep shock, and inescapable horror of the very possibility of such an atrocity, are all conveyed very convincingly. In runaway outlines of dry sepia, the perception by each of the diverse people of the monstrous atrocity, done right before their eye, is sensitively caught. Sharp observations appears in the masterful interpretation of guises. Facial nuances, characterizing the experiences of some particular individual, are caught by the artist's tenacious gaze.
The watercolor sketches of female heads by Aleksandr Fayvisovich's brush, are perceived with a slightly blurred impression of the emotional state of the model. The skillful drawing is felt in this fluid, unstable technique, although his watercolor works have no clear drawing lines. The form is revealed by the boundaries of the color planes. The artist has a good feel of the opportunities of watercolor painting, never allow arbitrary demonstration of skills in harming the meaningfulness of the image. The technique of painting is important to the artist, but the content element is more important. Rich color vibrations, subtle tonal modulations, convey the undercurrent of anxiety, a sense of languidly-untold states. The contemplation, unobtrusive confessions of heroines are barely marked by the master. The improvisational freedom of execution does not prevent the revelation of lyrical expressions: the "grasp" of the ephemeral emotional state of the models is beyond doubt. Moreover: in the quivering of an instant, captured as if by accident, lurks the possibility of understanding their characters.
Though it may seem strange, in the paintings of this master to a greater extent than in his sketches, our perception is directed from the depicted to the depicting. The landscape or genre motives are not as amusing on their own, as their pictorial interpretation by the artist, his comprehension of their emotional and imaginative nature, and the thoughts and feelings aroused by them in creative imagination. Subjective vision chooses or transforms an object of observation with heightened sensitivity to the hidden possibilities in it. This is akin to the lyrical rather than the epic literary genres.
Not in vain was it claimed that poetry is close to painting than to prose. They approach each other with a straight transmission of the emotional tone of a recreated moment, fixations of a certain mental attitude. They are akin to the language of associations attention to nuance, a special subtlety of sensation, and easiness of the author's remarks. The works of artist Fayvisovich clearly confirm this.
Even the most seemingly "narrative" of his landscape paintings - "Twillingate. Seaside cliffs", "Newfoundland. Twillingate Island", "Cliffs of Twillingate", "St. John's. Signal Hill", "Quebec. City wall", "Lake Placid. June" and a number of paintings close to them, revive the culture of leisurely and careful contemplation, nowadays almost completely lost. But sharp-sighted attention to the peculiarities of the motive, the depth of immersion in the perusing of the subject-spatial environment, are quite noticeable in the character of the interpretation of the landscape, and do not show any marked "plot". Only a sense of "speaking silence" exists in these landscapes, hiding within them a restrained tension and vague anxiety.
In the artwork of the master such paintings are as if confronted by landscape and landscape-genre works, pronounced by a marked dynamism and less stressed "picture" of the compositional decision - "Sea wind", "Pennsylvania. October", "Windy day", "Lilac in the city", "Harvard. Students", "The Harvard.cafe". All of them are executed in the style of uninhibited plein air. Spatial depth does not receive a substantial development in them. Thanks to the etude-like freedom of painting, the trees, fluttering leaves, flowers, people, tables and chairs of outdoor cafes, are immersed in the vibrant light-color environment, given in a single beautiful coalescence. Etudes have returned a direct perception of the world to the visual arts. The sketch-like style was identified very accurately by one of the artists, "unsaid, but unsaid correctly". The active contemplation of Aleksandr Fayvisovich fixes the flow of an instance of time, creating the sense of a lengthy pause in the rapid and unstoppable stream of life.
The painting "Snowfall" stands out among those works. The artist gave a sudden and sharp interpretation of the dynamically defined space of the bizarre kaleidoscope of everyday rush on a modern street. It is known that "foreshortening is an interpretation." What is captured is only one frame, essentially unique, but so characteristic that is almost familiar, and therefore convincing with all of its sudden grasp and deliberate uniqueness. In short, this is what the master himself calls "the selection of moment full of meaning." The movable equilibrium of the composition is based here on the complex rhythmic system, dictating the widening of the emotionally meaningful content of the motif: its instantaneous flow symbolizes the volatile-repeatable pulse of urban life.
A similar principle of organizing the artistic image exists in the composition of a different genre - the still life "Cherry." There is no selection of significant items, everything is presented in a natural disorder, as if taken by surprise by a fleeting glance and quickly thrown onto the canvas. Crumpled tablecloth around the edges of the tabletop, coffee pots located on it, a plugged previously opened bottle on a tray, glasses of unfinished wine, dark cherries scattered from fruit tray, a resting violin, and the backs of chairs are all shrouded by the reflections of outside light.
The background is manifested not entirely clearly, but it is exactly what forms the illuminated environment, framing the table top, concentrating attention specifically on it. This background is objectively active: the sufficiently dynamic object-spatial composition is saturated associatively. In the selection of objects in still life, where the ordinary is whimsically combined with the artistic, there arises an unobtrusive symbolism of unity between everyday life and artwork - one of the randomly seen moments from the life of the studio of the painter. In this restrained unobtrusive associativity, not only was the artistry of painting perceived, but also the developed artistic taste of Aleksandr Fayvisovich.
This master also has still life paintings of a very different plan, intended to identify the philosophy of this genre. This is how strict and carefully thought-out by its directing is the still life with a violin and a glass. Minimal combination of objects, an aspiration of the greatest extent possible to embody the material world, identify the "geometry" of the table, glasses and violins requires a strengthening of the structural beginning of the composition, the linear definiteness, and the harshness of contours.
Conventionally lighted objects, are as if frozen in an emphatic "anticipation". Taken from everyday life, seen closely, interpreted with a hyper-natural authenticity, they pointedly do not merge with the environment. Their accentuated separateness, tangibly transferred objectivity, and conventionally interpreted space, give the impression of timelessness and illusion, characteristic of metaphysical paintings of the last century.
In another still-life paintings, the self-sufficient objectivity and deliberate illusion are expressed less openly. Relations of objects are more motivated. Objectivity here did not suppress the artistry: it is revealed by it. The opposition between objects and space disappears. The environment of light and air creates a sense of an authentic specificity of the motif. Light gently melts the depicted objects, skim with patches of reflected light across the surface of apples, bags, bottles, striped tablecloths, trays, and knives. Transparent glasses, easily transmissive of light, play with their facets. The only remaining conventional object is some force field, holding the depicted objects on the slightly tilted and rotated towards the viewer, table.
It is interesting and significant that such a mature and experienced painter as Aleksandr Fayvisovich consistently gives himself highly diverse professional tasks, as if the period of attaining mastery remains for him for life. This suggests an extreme strictness of a talented artist for whom the problems of painting mastery are still as relevant and important as in the years of student youth. His artistic etudes and paintings with a semi-nude and a nude model - evening, night or early morning - are marked by heightened attention to the found authenticity of postures, gestures, facial expressions, character of the lighting of the figures, and the color and compositional decisions of each canvas.
The culture of color perception developed by him is quite high. But when observing in the painting "Winter Light" the naked girl's torso, immersed in the conventional luminous space flowing around it, there arises a great sense of unerring coloristic harmony and accurately-guessed compositional decision. The noticeable shift to the right from the center of the canvas, breaking the familiar symmetry, gives the image of unexpected poignancy. The artist avoids accentuated physicality here, but within the fragility and semi-illusory of his painting, there spontaneously arises a hidden sense of delicate and chaste eroticism.
Examples of honed artistic mastery and emotional fullness, like an accidentally noticed motif, could be such works by Aleksandr Fayvisovich as "July" and "Quiet island". Maintaining the appearance of full-scale improvisation, his deliberate understatement, the intensity of the lyrical experience of each of them, organized by the creative will of the master, is raised to the level of philosophical-meditative paintings. The poetic motif in them is much wider than the external artistic scene.
The treasure of the everyday joys of life and serene peace became the lyrical overtones of these paintings, written as if impromptu, but very far from thoughtless etudes. Everything in them is subordinated to the infallible color scheme, to the carefully calibrated color-sound of each element of the composition, subordinated to the planned out sense of wholeness. These are seemingly low-key, not especially remarkable motifs. But seen as if with "washed" eyes, they are very fresh and uncommon. The gentle touches of a freely drawing brush, the triumphant glow of transparent-bright colors are the secret charm of these enchanting paintings. This is his "July."
With thin, almost transparent strokes, takes place the molding of the image of a girl, standing with sandals in hand, her back to the viewer, on the steep bank of the water. Her warm body, gently glowing against the cool colors of water and sky, creates an awe-sensual and spiritual effect. Finely nuanced cold and warm tones palpably convey a sense of a serene summer day with a refreshing breath of wind, with variable iridescence of light. Light reflexes play on the sand and bush, subtly gliding over the matte skin of a nude body, are organically fused with the surrounding luminous substance. A moment is captured, as if transmitted in slow motion - not stopped, but slightly withheld, infused with a sense of complete melding of man and nature. The authenticity of the instant, despite its sketch-like style, is unmistakably captured.
The spontaneous character of execution here is only seeming. This impression is created by the live rhythm of the visual storytelling and the artistic ease of painting. In general, such paintings that are sketch-like by their external visibility, are inherent to internal picturesqueness. There is no brash outburst of initial emotional experiences. They speak not so much of a fleeting moment, what is seen by chance, as about the quiet joy of existence, captured in it.
The artistic reflection and the implicit philosophy of artist's works, is perhaps even more evident in the painting "Quiet island". The profile image of a young woman, frozen in a slightly detached reverie, a soft glow of the generally depicted background, the water surface with reflections of a cloudy sky, near and far shore, a light and air state melting together all forms, is the entire artistic "plot" of the painting. How could it be said in a word, the state of meditative immersion, the experience of simple and eternal values of existence? How could it be conveyed, the music so correctly guessed by the artist, of the seemingly simple motif? In the artistic incarnation of the inexplicable, painting has clear advantages over literature.
Deliberate understatement is inherent to the creative method of the master, opening many interpretations, allowing anyone to immerse themselves into the space of the image. As if right before our eyes, there manifests a spontaneous transition of direct experiences into the plan of spiritual and contemplative reflections. This painting is for prolonged viewing; its figurative information opens not at first sight, but requires a patient understanding, penetrating comprehension.
Aleksandr Fayvisovich is a naturally original artist, but is devoid of the distinctive deliberate strangeness of uniqueness. The distinctive character of his visual thinking is the unobtrusiveness of the author's imaginative ideas, suggesting the "work of the picture in the viewer" (K.Petrov-Vodkin). The process of associative refraction of the visible moves along the course of our perception of his paintings, watercolors, and drawings, thanks to the intuitive attainment of emotionally meaningful aspiration of the author's will. Opened by a wide variety of quests, he easily retains artistic originality, the ability to remain himself on paths of modern visual art.
by Efim Vodonos,
Honored Artist of the Russian Federation,
Director of the Russian art department of the Saratov State Art Museum
named after A.Radischev.
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