ARTISTS
Andrey Ostashov
Andrey Ostashov is one of the artists who entered Belarus’ art scene at the turn of the century, adding a new accent into it. His works are already in the permanent exposition of the National Art Museum of Belarus, Funds of the Contemporary Fine Arts Museum of Belarus, the Museum of Arts in Malaga (Spain), and private collections in Austria, Belarus, Great Britain, Germany, Holland, Spain, Canada, Lithuania, United Arab Emirates, Poland, Russia, USA, and Switzerland. Ostashov is a laureate of prestigious awards, participant and winner of international contests and plain air paintings (the Russian award in the field of art "Belief" in the nomination «For the breadth of conception and the grandeur of implementation» (2013), the diploma of the Creative Union of Artists of Russia «For the contribution to fine arts» (2015)).
Since 2013, the contemporary Belarusian art has been in many respects shaped by Andrey Ostashov's solo exhibition of more than 100 sculptural and graphic works in the halls of the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. In VIENNAFAIR 2015, the sculptor presented his nation Belarus for the first time in this one of the most important forums of European contemporary art with his project "Eurasia".
Ostashov’s works have a uniquely artistic style based on myths of different times and peoples, which serve as a material of creating his own expressive world. There is his own version of Oriental poetics organically connected with the European tradition and innovative lineaments of this century’s culture. Ostashov’s sculptures are bewitched and intrigue; they are to be solved, deciphered, scrutinized, and perceived. The quaint and diverse world, that is invented and simultaneously convincingly authentic, reveals many actual problems of art and difficult philosophical questions of our time.
Before our eyes, for more than 20 years of his intense creative life, the artist creates modern myths and legends, making us participants of this extremely fascinating process. His works reflect the artist’s conviction that today the universality of ancient human memory ceased to submit to the idea of dividing inhabitants of Europe and Asia on people of the East and the West. As a person from the West, the artist is courageously and genuinely ensorcelled by the Orient, which is loved by many spectators and collectors all across Eurasia. It especially concerns those who live at the junction of cultures - and there are more and more such people in the world. The dialogue format offered by Ostashov is very important for today’s world.
What is the secret of the Belarusian artist’s phenomenon? There is an external complexity in details, but constantly improving his own art language, Ostashov remains an extremely open storyteller of deep human emotions and feelings. His skillfully toned bronze represents several basic themes - the characteristic female image that passes a way of growing and metamorphoses from a teenage girl to a true woman; a series of male types in the appearance of Samurais. Sometimes, with a timid smile, they narrate the essence of men's character in the author’s understanding.
Works from the field of contemporary myth-making deserve separate attention. Today, the artist’s reference to the myth does not look like something new - after all, behind his back, there are millenary traditions of mythological art. However, it is impossible to call it archaic either because such a way of cognizing the world is still topical and in demand.
An organic combination of traditions and innovations allows the master to create his own world of images – a fantastically bizarre, simultaneously warm and close one, which invites us to unhastingly apperceive the artist's conception. Breathtakingly interesting plots of his works, where the real and the invented are deeply intertwined, are close and clear both to adults and young people, the majority of whom is far from traditional art. Characters of Ostashov’s sculptural phantasies are thoughtful girls in heroes’ heavy armor, fantastic animals, and astonishing warriors that reveal a new perusal of the idea of “two worlds in one”. With a paradoxical melange of motifs, Ostashov’s modern language speaks about the mythologies of Ancient Greece and the Ancient Orient, today’s city culture, and inner life of each of us.
Since 2013, the contemporary Belarusian art has been in many respects shaped by Andrey Ostashov's solo exhibition of more than 100 sculptural and graphic works in the halls of the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. In VIENNAFAIR 2015, the sculptor presented his nation Belarus for the first time in this one of the most important forums of European contemporary art with his project "Eurasia".
Ostashov’s works have a uniquely artistic style based on myths of different times and peoples, which serve as a material of creating his own expressive world. There is his own version of Oriental poetics organically connected with the European tradition and innovative lineaments of this century’s culture. Ostashov’s sculptures are bewitched and intrigue; they are to be solved, deciphered, scrutinized, and perceived. The quaint and diverse world, that is invented and simultaneously convincingly authentic, reveals many actual problems of art and difficult philosophical questions of our time.
Before our eyes, for more than 20 years of his intense creative life, the artist creates modern myths and legends, making us participants of this extremely fascinating process. His works reflect the artist’s conviction that today the universality of ancient human memory ceased to submit to the idea of dividing inhabitants of Europe and Asia on people of the East and the West. As a person from the West, the artist is courageously and genuinely ensorcelled by the Orient, which is loved by many spectators and collectors all across Eurasia. It especially concerns those who live at the junction of cultures - and there are more and more such people in the world. The dialogue format offered by Ostashov is very important for today’s world.
What is the secret of the Belarusian artist’s phenomenon? There is an external complexity in details, but constantly improving his own art language, Ostashov remains an extremely open storyteller of deep human emotions and feelings. His skillfully toned bronze represents several basic themes - the characteristic female image that passes a way of growing and metamorphoses from a teenage girl to a true woman; a series of male types in the appearance of Samurais. Sometimes, with a timid smile, they narrate the essence of men's character in the author’s understanding.
Works from the field of contemporary myth-making deserve separate attention. Today, the artist’s reference to the myth does not look like something new - after all, behind his back, there are millenary traditions of mythological art. However, it is impossible to call it archaic either because such a way of cognizing the world is still topical and in demand.
An organic combination of traditions and innovations allows the master to create his own world of images – a fantastically bizarre, simultaneously warm and close one, which invites us to unhastingly apperceive the artist's conception. Breathtakingly interesting plots of his works, where the real and the invented are deeply intertwined, are close and clear both to adults and young people, the majority of whom is far from traditional art. Characters of Ostashov’s sculptural phantasies are thoughtful girls in heroes’ heavy armor, fantastic animals, and astonishing warriors that reveal a new perusal of the idea of “two worlds in one”. With a paradoxical melange of motifs, Ostashov’s modern language speaks about the mythologies of Ancient Greece and the Ancient Orient, today’s city culture, and inner life of each of us.
