The exhibition programme of the XII International Platonov Arts Festival includes three projects. Works by Robert Falk, Alexander Rodchenko and Evgeny Kravtsov from the largest Russian galleries and private collections will be presented in Voronezh.
The central event of the exhibition programme of the Platonov Arts Festival will be a project dedicated to the creative work of Robert Falk, an outstanding painter, avant-garde artist and classic of Russian art of the 20th century, one of the leaders of the "Jack of Diamonds", an iconic figure of The Thaw. Voronezh residents will be able to see about 50 paintings and graphic works of the artist from the collections of the State Russian Museum, the State Tretyakov Gallery, New Jerusalem State Museum of History and Art, the Kursk State Art Gallery named after A. Deineka, Tula Museum Association. Project "Robert Falk. Painting and Graphic Arts" is a retrospective reflecting Falk’s creative path from early works of 1909 to the works of the 1950s and emphasising the diversity of his heritage. The exhibition will open in the Voronezh Regional Art Museum named after I.N. Kramskoy on June 3rd and will be available until July 2nd.
An exhibition of works by Alexander Rodchenko – the famous avant-garde artist, an innovator in the field of painting, sculpture, book/ poster/ film and theatre design will also open on the second floor of the museum on June 3rd. This is a joint project of the Platonov Arts Festival and the Voronezh Regional Art Museum named after I.N. Kramskoy, created as part of the regional programme of the Lumiere Gallery and the Still Art Foundation. The exposition includes 58 gelatin silver prints from two portfolios of the museum series, issued in an edition of 35 copies in 1994-1997, collected under the guidance of the artist's daughter Varvara Rodchenko, Alexander Lavrentiev – Rodchenko's grandson and the leading researcher of his work, as well as a gallery owner Howard Shikler. The photographs included in the portfolio and provided by the Still Art Foundation were printed by Alexander Lavrentiev and Yuri Plaksin in the artist's photo lab from the original negatives.
The exhibition will present works by Rodchenko of different years, from the first photographic experiments of the 1920s to the end of the 1930s. These are famous portraits of the family (the photographer's mother, his wife Varvara Stepanova and daughter Varvara Rodchenko), as well as portraits of friends: artists, architects, poets, writers, film directors, employees of the LEF and New LEF magazines. Among them are several photographs of Vladimir Mayakovsky from Rodchenko's first photo session, taken in his studio on Myasnitskaya in 1924, a portrait of Lilya Brik, which became the basis for the Lengiz Publisher poster, by Rodchenko and Mayakovsky, and the famous photograph of Osip Brik, where instead of one of the lenses of the glasses there is the name of the LEF magazine. The exposition will also include Rodchenko's architectural photography and photo reports: the legendary Balconies (1925), Stairs (1929), Fire Escape (1925), as well as Pioneer with a Trumpet (1930) and Pioneer Girl (1930). The exhibition can be visited until July 16th.
The third project of the Platonov Arts Festival is a personal exhibition of works by Evgeny Kravtsov "Corrosion". It will open on June 2nd in Exhibition Hall of the Union of Artists (8 Kirova Street) and will last until July 2nd.
The cycle "Corrosion" is the result of the five-year work of Evgeny Kravtsov (2018-2023), which is currently the most significant of the artist's works. The objects of the series are not only characters that have undergone destruction, but also objects touched by corrosion. Some of them retained their integrity, others suffered more. "Corrosion" grew out of a series of works by Evgeny Kravtsov, in which he reflects on a bygone era. Later, the cycle expanded, absorbing new topics and enriching itself with additional meanings. Art critic Ralia Musina characterises the artist's work in the following way: "The sophistication of the letter, in which pictorial and graphic techniques are used equally, creating an indivisible unity, fascinates the most. Kravtsov's innovation rests on a solid foundation of the traditional basics of the Russian painting. The topic, presented in the principles of postmodern art, is "ennobled" by the academic school of painting, realistic interpretations, which is the advantage of the cycle as a work of art, in which the old and the new are not antagonists, but unity in their evolutionary development."
Tickets to the exhibition "Robert Falk. Painting and Graphic Arts" will be available on the website of the Platonov Arts Festival: platonovfest.com until June 18th. Since June 19th - on the website of the Voronezh Regional Art Museum named after I.N. Kramskoy, where tickets to the exhibition "Alexander Rodchenko" will also be available throughout the entire time of the event. In addition, tickets to these events can be purchased at the museum ticket office. The admission to the exhibition of works by Evgeny Kravtsov "Corrosion" is free. Tickets to the exhibition "Robert Falk. Painting and Graphic Arts" can be purchased with the Pushkin card.