Vasiliy Myazin: Quest for Harmony in a Disjointed World
September 24 through October 15, 2004 in the East Lobby Gallery
Vasiliy Myazin was born on October 5, 1936 in Moscow. In 1959, he graduated from the Department of Applied Arts of the Moscow Textile Institute. In 1962, he began to participate in district, Republic, All-Union, and foreign exhibitions. He was admitted to the Artists League of the former USSR for achievement in fine arts in 1990.
Myazin is a relative newcomer to Chicago, but he has already established
himself as a multifaceted and original artist and sculptor. His
colorful paintings, graphic works, and dramatic sculptural compositions have
been presented at several one-man and joint exhibitions in the Chicagoland
area.
He works in different media – drawing, painting, sculpture, hot enamels, and monumental-decorative compositions. He uses various materials in his work, including wood, canvas, oil paint, acrylic paint, plastic, metal, wood, and more.
Myazin
creates an unexpected harmony between the traditions of fresco and icon
painting going back to the Middle-Ages, and the dynamics, expressiveness,
and festively decorated quality found in contemporary art. One senses
in him the impressionists' search for color and the perception of its
dissolution. He often finds the answer in an unusual mosaic-like
composition, which fills his works with air and vibrant movement, but also
gives them an eternal, poetic quality and a graceful stillness reminiscent
of Raphael and Botticelli. Much of Myazin's work is symbolic.
His well-balanced compositions have a precise rhythm of their own, achieved
through clear lines and distinct alteration of light and shade which lend
his pictures an almost musical character.
"The twentieth century has witnessed the flourishing of so many 'novel' artistic trends, so many theories and manifestos that finding one's way among them or selecting the true leaders becomes a daunting, if not impossible, task. I myself am not a great fan of theories and manifestos. I let my intuition show me the way. I do not allow my artistic identity to be pigeonholed by others, nor do I allow myself to linger in one particular style. And when people ask me what artistic trend my art can be identified, my only response can be 'Look and you will see. Do not succumb to the temptation of stereotyping. Trust yourself.'"