The opening of the exhibition “Creative Harmony”, presenting works by Alexey Polikutin
On February, 2, the exhibition “Creative Harmony”, dedicated to works by artist-cosmist Alexei Polikutin, was opened at the Museum of Nickolas Roerich. The opening was followed by a concert of Ludmila Polikutina, the winner of the international vocal competition "Golden Voice", who performed “Pie Jesu” by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
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V.V. Frolov |
Deputy Director of the Museum of Nicholas Roerich V.V. Frolov introduced the artist to guests. He emphasized on versatile nature of Mr. Polikutin who has always been able to combine his artistic work in various fields (art, poetry, music, writing) with current occupation as a psychologist and teacher of physics and computer science.
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V.G. Sokolov |
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V.G. Sokolov, Ph.D., Senior Scientist of the United Scientific Centre for Cosmic Thinking Problems (USCCTP), noted that the increasing interest of artists and the audience to a particular genre of art – cosmism – is a pivotal phenomenon of our time. In the first half of the XX century, cosmic art united many artists including Nicholas Roerich whose works have emphasized the importance of this movement. Many of us are familiar with some of the works created by representatives of “Amaravella” artistic society, as well as with the fact that these artists often had meetings with Mr. Roerich. There is no coincidence that pictures by Alexey Polikutin to some extent are influenced by "Amaravella" (eg. "Contemplation", "To the Radiant City," "The Winter's Tale," "Sacred Fire", etc.) and placed in the halls of this Museum.
Polikutin’s works undoubtedly represent cosmism in its literal and metaphorical sense. But what is cosmism? We are discussing new cosmic view on things and the new movement in art and philosophy, as a consequence, which in comparison to the comprehension of the world creation in ancient times reveals various facets of interaction between a man and complex reality of the Cosmos. This is the formation of new consciousness and the new approach to the cognition of the world. In this case, paintings help us to gain the knowledge about Cosmos. This approach for gaining knowledge is obvious in creativity, especially in artworks by cosmists. Eventually, observing these paintings, we find ourselves in front of the windows facing the alien world of Cosmos rather than simply works of art, and our hearts are sensitive to this new world. This idea is revealed in works by Alexey Polikutin, which spread the beauty, one of the most important grounds for the world creation development.
It is worth mentioning that the artist's paintings reflect some important ideas of the Living Ethics system of philosophy, which is the basis of the new cosmic thinking. One of these ideas is implemented through the duality law, according to which any phenomenon or process should be viewed on the one side as a visible, dense material and invisible, subtle on the other. This is the essential principle, expressed through subjects of the paintings by Alexey Polikutin. Some of these works are also based on the idea of the evolutionary impact of the higher worlds on our earthly world, without which the spiritual evolution of humanity is impossible (this refers to such paintings as "Harbinger of the Mountains", "St. Sergius Chapel"). Therefore, these pictures, to a certain extent, bring us knowledge about the Cosmos and human beings. Through silent observation of these works, we build up mental bridges that connect us with the higher worlds of the infinitely complex cosmic reality.
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A.A. Lebedenko |
A.A. Lebedenko, deputy head of USCCTP, mentioned some of the brightest canvasses from the exhibition such as "Glory to the Holy Spirit", "The Star of Buddha", "St. Sergius Chapel," "Golden Flame", "Carriers of the Good," "Sacred Fire", "Angel of Salvation", "Sisters of the Heavenly Abode", "The Evening. From Heart to Heart" and others. The radiant colours and symbolic language of these paintings transfer a viewer’s consciousness to the wonderful sphere of otherness. Of course, we all might know or guess about the existence of the higher worlds, yet, it is art that makes our hearts sensitive to their calls. Thus, the main task of the artist, in its broadest sense, is to extract the best from the depths of human consciousness and saturate a viewer’s soul with beautiful images of the eternal future. At his time, Nicholas Roerich brought into life a vital formula for creativity: "The art will unite humanity", "Art and Knowledge form the basis of the evolution of humanity".
Most people consider art as the sphere assisting them to submerge into their own feelings and thoughts and allowing them to compare these ideas to the views of the giants of spirit and masters of art who passed through life by paths of wisdom. It was L.A. Sulerzhitsky, an outstanding representative of the Russian Silver Age, teacher, artist, philosopher and writer, who made a very important point of a connection between the past and the future: "Each of us is creation of the past, and those who once realized it, must overcome the past for the benefit of the present and the future." The essence of "the real art is to unite people around the best." Then each of us will look for the artworks that bring joy and beauty to all human beings, evoke good feelings and aspirations of the best to the Oneness. Thus, the main task of art is to form the human world, to refine our consciousness by means of images of the higher Beauty, Goodness and Love. In this respect, the art of Alexey Polikutin is the wonderful process that allows saturating the life with this unique beauty. Alexey aims to create paintings that would fill our souls with the Light of the Beauty.
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D.Yu. Revyakin |
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D.Yu. Revyakin, the representative of the International Centre of the Roerichs exhibition department, emphasized that art of Alexey Polikutin has been formed under the influence of Nicholas Roerich and artistic movement “Amaravella”. It was friendship with Mrs. Drosdova-Chernovolenko, wife of artist V.T. Chernovolenko, that had an impact on the artistic style during the early period of Polikutin’s creativity. Revyakin also mentioned the fact that Polikutin’s vision is shared by his wife and soulmate Ludmila and wished further artistic achievements to the artist.
On the opening, a greeting letter from Francesco Borrelli, President of The Roerich Pact Association in Italy, was read. Mr. Borrelli wished success to Alexey Polikutin in the work on the current exhibition “Creative Harmony”
The ceremony ended with a speech from the author. Alexey Polikutin said that his dream to have an exhibition within the walls of the Roerich museum has come true. Also, he told about the origins of his works. Subjects for his paintings partly derive from childhood memories – a huge dome of the night sky and a snow-covered field with myriads of sparks. The sky beguiled Alexey. Eventually, astronomy became one of his hobbies and lead to the new understanding of the infinity. A striking image of the Orion constellation, which beauty was the first prayer through silent observation, will forever remain a bright memory from the childhood.
During student years Alexey Polikutin formed his own views on philosophy and art. At that time the artist discovered the Call of Beauty in the art of Nicholas Roerich and philosophical doctrine of the Living Ethics.
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Alexey Polikutin |
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Having travelled around the Altai mountains in 1993, Alexey presented a movie “Amaravella” in August of the same year. This trip and work on the film resulted in the new step of self-discovery and first attempts at drawing.
The first exhibition took place in Kotovsk in 1999. The enthusiasm of people and the Unity in Beauty gave inspiration and indicated the path of the artist-cosmist as a vocation. Following that, there was a series of notes on art, new works and new exhibitions in the cities of Tambov and Kotovsk.
In 2002, fate gave a meeting with M.F. Drozdova-Chernovolenko, the wife of artist-cosmist V.T. Chernovolenko. Communication between her and Polikutin hadn’t stopped until 2006. Maria Filippovna expressed her wish to display the exhibition at the Nicholas Roerich Museum.
"With this title – “Creative Harmony”, I’m trying to focus on the main idea of the exhibition. It reveals the idea that Harmony is not an achievement of a single person but the result of the hard work of the whole Universe. By this interpretation, being the consonance to the Whole, the Harmony creates the Beauty. Derived from the sanctity of Heart, this Beauty is capable of uniting people within itself. It is wonderful that burning hearts from different parts of the world – Kabardino-Balkaria, Karelia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Estonia, the United States, Israel and also Italy, represented by President of the Roerich Pact Association – are sending their warm regards and congratulations on the exhibition to the Nicholas Roerich Museum. This means that the process of Unity in Beauty is happening now and I’m happy to be part of that".
T.A. Ivanova
Foto: A.L. Prohorychev
