PAST SHOWS

Elder Art Gallery
presents

Paintings From Charlotte’s Sister City in

"The Russians are Coming"

Opening reception: Friday, May 7th, 2004

Elder Art Gallery is proud to present a select group of Russian paintings by twenty artists from Charlotte’s Sister City, Voronezh, Russia.

Many of the artists studied at the Voronezh Art Academy in the former Soviet Union. Artists such as Vasily Komalov and Tatiana Konovalova have earned the title of Honored People’s Artist in their native country and are now gaining recognition in the west.

Soviet Realism (also known as Propaganda Art) portrays art commissioned by the Soviet Regime glorifying the benefits of communism and the ordinary Russian worker. Russian Impressionism took this one step further and abstracted their political environment and hardships; the impressionists found inspiration and strength in the power of nature and the human spirit, unlike their French counterparts who chose to depict the lives and entertainment of the leisure class.

The Soviet people lived through incredible hardships during the 70 years of communist rule, which were only compounded by the German invasion of WWII and the collectivization by Krouchev. Families were torn apart in order to build frontier settlements, yet the artists portray none of this horror. Instead we see a stoic, robust people immortalized forever in oil… tender, worn, contemplative and most of all, heroic.

The Russians Are Coming opens on Friday, May 5, 2004 and will be on exhibition through June 30, 2004.

Here are several paintings that are included in the exhibition.