 1954: born in the town of Vologda
1975 -1980: studied at the Moscow Higher School of Art and Industry, formerly the Stroganov School
Beginning 1979 participated in over seventy international, national and regional exhibitions, at least fifteen of which were his personalshown, after 1994, in towns and cities across Russia and abroad
Since 1980: has lived and worked in the city of Yaroslavl
1989: became a member of the Union of Artists of Russia
1991–1992: a member of the "10th Floor" creative association
1993–1998: headed the "Vitrazh creative association
Beginning 1996: a member of the "Alley" association of Russia's artists
1999: the winner of the A. M. Opekushin prize
2001: the winner of the Ferrario Pastel APA prize
Since 2002: a participant of the "Pastel Academy" exhibition project
2003 awarded a diploma of the Russian Academy of Arts
2004: awarded the title of Deserved Artist of Russia
2005: was awarded the Silver Medal of the Russian Academy of Arts
Malafeyevsky's works are included in museum collections in Yaroslavl, Vologda, Ples, Ivanovo, Rybinsk, Korbach of Germany, the RosIzo of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation; in the collections owned by various organizations in Kassel, Hanau, Wetzla, Trendelburg and other cities and towns of Germany and in private collections in Russia, England, the USA, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Italy and Finland.
Leonid Malafeyevsky is a painter whose works attract attention as examples of unceasing search for new means of artistic expression and true professional mastery.
His art is not that of dreams or caprice but of a mystery glimmering in the depths of the universe, leaving its imprint on things.
A native of Vologda, then a graduate of the Moscow Higher School of Art and Industry, formerly the Stroganov School, he became a professional artist in the early 1980s, actively joining the multifaceted art of the 20th century.
The artist's creative life was as if well-measured, with some thoughtful looks back to the heritages of Russian and West-European masters of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Working in classical genres, such as landscape, still-life, interior and portrait, he paid much attention to formal pursuits. He was fascinated by the relationship between form and color, plastic artistry and texture, searching for his own particular manner. He organically took in and creatively converted the historic heritage, be it post-impressionism or the unrestrictedly impressionist vision of Russian and Western masters. His works being somewhat retrospective, the basic imagery still relied on direct seeing of nature.
The artist finally found the particular image he was looking for by the early 1990s. That was the time of his ultimate realization and the beginning of mature self-assured art.
Leonid Malaveyevsky is a contemplator, an enchanted traveler on the roads of being. His world is calm and mysterious. There is no noise and bustle or dynamic unfolding of topics in it. Everything in that world has already happened and became a token of eternity. Man just rarely is present there and, when that happens, becomes another particle of the glimmering reality half-dissolved in the flow of light and exquisite play of subdued colors. At the same time, everything in the pictures is full of life. The artist sees no dead inanimate nature. His world is breathing, nearly imperceptibly murmuring something, shimmering, shining, sounding and dreaming. The artist discerns a potential for eternal life in the reality and a quivering soul in the matter.
The borderlines between genres are often as if deleted. A still-life is a part of an interior, a landscape seen behind a window fills the interior space and persons merge with the flow of light that ascends from the depths of existence. Solid dead matter dissolves passing the energy it consists of onto viewers. This triumph of life, the victory of the spirit over dead matter is very convincing exactly because the artist never attempts hopping over the edge of what's real into some fantastic astral spheres. In his pictures, the very reality becomes a sacrament, creating an impression that only our inertness makes us see what's living as dead. And the artist opens our eyes allowing us to see the world just the way it is in its essence.
Not infrequently, grayish blue dominates the pictures. At the same time, other light/color shades and bright splashes are most masterfully worked into the dominant colors. On the whole, there is an impression of precious shining colorful surface.
Malafeyevsky's manner is devoid of gaudiness, challenge or epatage. He is a master of nuances, half-tints. He waits for his viewers to immerse in the world he creates on the canvas, become one with it and live the mystery of total life. The art of the master, free from canons, depends on the mystical effect of participation. In the improvisational rhythmic flow of colorful strokes, the material world disintegrates and then puts on a new wonderful exciting flesh.
In his latest pictures, the artist paid more attention to the texture of the painted surfaces. Landscapes and still-lives became more decorative. The artist's disposition excluded the possibility of halting, of an artistic stupor of sorts. His discoveries always resulted from searching.
In mid-1990s, Leonid Malaveyevsky began using fragile pastel chalks. His new technique changed practically nothing in his previous imagery. There still were still-lives within interiors and finely spaced landscapes. Using the classical properties of pastel, the master delighted in its texture, softness and purity of colors, the richness of possibilities in shade changes. The search for imaging solutions continued. Is it an intellectual game or creative suffering that we see in the artist's works?
One may finally realize that there are both there. Malaveyevsky makes us perceive the artistic and graphic properties of pastel, trying to use the whole specter of its possibilities.
Rather frequently, graphic methods appear in or even dominate his works. Without destroying the modeling of spaces and forms, Leonid Malaveyevsky reinforces the characteristics of planes and objects using simple sliding outlines. This is what the "subjective" manner of the artist partially shows in.
Now, Malaveyevsky's resorting to pastels seems very organic and natural. Leaving paints for pastels or pastels for paints, an artist tests him or herself, looking for an even fuller and more precise comprehension of the secrets of the world and for the ultimate purity of motifs, colors, sounds…
Evgeny Ermolin,
Candidate of Arts, Doctor of Pedagogy
Nina Golenkevich,
Art Critic |
