Starting with an open house on September 13-14, the Russian Academy of Visual Arts will open its faculty doors and commence what is certain to be the beginning of a major new influence upon the arts scene of not only Alexandria, but also the Greater Washington area.
The idea to launch an art school was conceived by several Russian artists who already possess teaching experiences from various Russian schools. These artists bring a long history of an art system deeply rooted in classical training and techniques. These roots owe their birth to Peter the Great, who envisioned a Russian Academy of Fine Arts early in the 18th century whose aim was to develop a distinct Russian identity via an unique combination of classical European and native Russian influences.
The current exhibition by the school's faculty is a perfect example of can be achieved via this marriage of skill and creativity. The works of painters Natasha Mokina and Victor Pakhomkin as well as sculptor Leonid Brener show a mastery of their respective medium rarely seen these days in academia as well as that spark of creativity which differentiates the merely skilled from the true artist.
Pakhomkin has chosen a very Russian subject (decorated eggs) for several large paintings, but he brings them to a blunt contemporary state by the overlaying of broad bands of plain color, which at first seem obtrusive, yet become an integral part of these massive canvasses on a more studious look.
Brener's sculptures seem to leap from a powerful classical realism, as depicted in a voluptuous female torso, which twists in sensual eroticism, to several contemporary pieces which are nonetheless anchored in strong skills rather than gimmick.
It is Mokina, currently a drawing teacher at the Corcoran School of Art, who in my opinion dominates the show with one single painting. Her portrait of a beautiful, immortal Russian woman is not just striking by its obvious delivery of pure painting skills, but more importantly by that elusive ability to capture a "look" or a mood in the piece. This is a very brooding beauty we face, with ancient blue eyes which tell Slavic stories by the score, and in an homage to its European cousins, is framed by mini renditions of Renaissance scenes reminiscent of the goals of Peter to force Old Russia into Europe.
The Open House will be held on Saturday, September 13, 1997 noon-5 p.m. and again on Sunday at the same time. The Academy is located at 211 The Strand in Old Town and can be reached at (703) 838-0015 or via email at lena@pressroom.com
