Contemporary viewers accustomed to the most intricate forms of individuality expect something deliberately provocative from their initial impression of the artist. But even the most sophisticated admirer of beauty will dare to take a look (at least a furtive one) at the creator behind it.
Today, the creator looks like this – thin, tall, wearing jeans, and sporting long carroty (!) dreadlocks. Plus a stormy temperament, an unbelievably positive reaction to the world, and an emotional perpetuum mobile. So, here he is – meet Vadim Kolobovnikov. He is a young artist and a vibrant figure in Lipetsk’s art scene.
Vadim was born (we simply cannot omit this information!) on April 24, 1973, and studied at Lipetsk State Pedagogical University at the Faculty of Art. Vadim carried out his first art projects in (sorry) St. Petersburg and Moscow. The toxic influence of these two metropolises affected him, and Vadim did not become a “Lipetsk artist” in the strict sense, but in any case, he continues to evolve as an artist...
The initial and most important impression of Vadim and his works is emotional.
Even his name conveys certain emotional characteristics – the “high-speed” energy of images, volcanic power of color, flash, blast, drive. Suddenly, we find ourselves in the eye of a tornado (but one that bears a melodious feminine name).
We need to take a break, and then, some time later, we’ll hear a distinctive melody from the artist – sincere, awakening reminiscences, and unexpectedly penetrating.
Kolobovnikov usually does not engage in rhetorical detailing of visual images – he trusts his viewer too much to do so. The viewer doesn’t need any commentary at all (not even that provided by the artist). By the way, the artist prefers to remain silent.
Overall, all of Vadim’s works are positive: the world is saved and it is magnificent, nature is alive, people are not lonely, and the sky is amazing. Vadim shows us a world transformed by the power of his creativity, which means the world has been created anew.
Buffon once remarked that “The style is the man himself.” In the era of fading postmodernism, the question of style puzzles everyone except perhaps infants. Indeed, an artist has a personality, which means they have a certain style. It is obvious that the development of all forms of art depends on the choices artists make. So, who are Vadim Kolobovnikov’s “guiding stars”?
Among the great artists – Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Pavel Filonov. Perhaps due to their influence on Vadim, his landscape paintings are subtly yet tangibly expressive and epic. In his works, Vadim strives to achieve hieratic stillness; he wishes to erase tentative boundaries between figurative and non-figurative.
Among the people who surround the artist – Vladimir Basinsky, Vladimir Zlobin (both were Kolobovnikov’s teachers), and Lidiya Skargina. From Basinsky, Vadim learned to analyze the painterly surface; from Zlobin, he learned the importance of freedom which is (alas!) impossible to convey even through art and even in close contact; and from Skargina, the artist learned to discard everything that is non-essential.
Vadim himself is very sincere; he possesses a special impetuosity of artistic vision and a gift for the graphic interpretation of pictorial art.
Kolobovnikov’s art is undoubtedly very emotional. However, this emotional sensitivity is not only part of his character but an inherent quality of his artistic perception.
Even a person not interested in modern art cannot fail to notice the special musicality of Vadim’s compositional thinking. The nature of pictorial language is determined by a rhythmic foundation. Color, as a “sounding” element of the artistic perception of the plastic cosmos, is the very core of Vadim’s personality as an artist.
Kolobovnikov’s preferences as a colorist are quite obvious to an observant viewer. The “passionarity” of colors in his paintings makes one think of some sort of “color therapy.”
Kolobovnikov’s art is not autistic. The artist’s interest in viewers’ empathy manifests itself in the cropping that Vadim uses so frequently (halloo, Degas!), and in the almost accidental absence of people in his landscape paintings (is human presence worth it – after Munch?). Maybe this is why we can sense something human in Vadim’s non-figurative compositions?..
“There's no progress in art.” No use arguing with Pablo Picasso, because he merely states an obvious fact. But why should creative people care about this? In Vadim Kolobovnikov’s art, we can feel a belief in the possibility of a dialogue with people who are not indifferent. In this case, the commonness of our world is not an obstacle but, on the contrary, a chance for salvation… Brodsky’s words come to mind: “Despite all its orphancy, poetry is based on the sameness of monotonous days which go by.”
Svetlana Nikova
Andrey Lomonosov
LIST OF EXHIBITIONS:
1. Regional Youth Exhibition 2001
2. The 2001 Regional Exhibition
3. Moscow exhibition “Lipchane - Muscovites" (MoscowKashirskoe) 2001
4. All-Russian Youth Exhibition in Moscow, Central House of Artists (from 26.11.01 to 14.01.02)
5. Regional exhibition “60 years of the Great Victory" 2005
6. Regional exhibition dedicated to the Day of the Artist 2005
7. Exhibition in Voronezh of the Lipetsk Agricultural Academy in 2005.
8. Exhibition (personal) in Moscow 2006. EXPO - 88 Gallery
9. Regional exhibition dedicated to the Day of the Artist 2006.
10. Personal exhibition (Lipetsk region exhibition hall) 2007
11. VIII International Exhibition “Dialogues" (Biennale) (St. Petersburg) 2007.
12. Personal exhibition (gallery “M'ART”, Lipetsk) 2007
13. Regional exhibition dedicated to the Day of the Artist 2008
14. Regional Exhibition (Yaroslavl) 2008
15. All-Russian Youth Exhibition (Saratov) 2008
16. Regional Portrait Exhibition (Regional Exhibition Hall) 2008
17. Regional exhibition dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Union of Artists of Russia - Lipetsk, 2008.
18. Regional High School dedicated to Artist's Day 2009
19. Persons. Exhibition in the Lipetsk Regional art gallery "The Edge of the world" 2010
20. Regional High School dedicated to Artist's Day 2011
21. Persons. exhibition (Bolkonsky Gallery, Lipetsk) 2013
22. Collection exhibition at the Nefta Gallery, Voronezh, 2013
23. Lipetsk Regional Exhibition 2013
24. Regional High School dedicated to Artist's Day 2014
25. Exhibition of Lipetsk artists in Moscow, 2015
26. Personal Exhibition (Lipetsk, region exhibition hall) "Open spaces" 2015
27. Regional exhibition "The exhibition is open." Artist's Day 2016
28. Joint exhibition (Skargina L.V. and Kolobovnikov V. A.) "Under one Sun" TNK Art Gallery, Moscow, 2016
29. Collective exhibition of lime tree artists (Moscow, Dacha Gallery) 2016
30. Regional exhibition "Prokhorov field". Belgorod 2016
31. International exhibition-competition "Week of Arts" Lipetsk 2016
32. Personal exhibition in the shopping and entertainment center "Europe" Lipetsk, 2016
33. All-Russian exhibition "Faces of Russia", Arkhangelsk, 2016
34. Personal exhibition. G. Chaplygin. 2016
35. Regional High School dedicated to Artist's Day 2017.
36. Exhibition of Lipetsk artists. Ryazan 2017.
37. Regional exhibition. Belgorod 2017.
38. Exhibition of Lipetsk artists. Voronezh 2017.
39. Personal exhibition at the Art School 2 Lipetsk 2017.
40. Regional exhibition dedicated to Artist's Day 2018.
41. 4th interregional exhibition in Belgorod. "Prokhorov field". 2018.
42. Regional Youth Exhibition in Lipetsk 2018.
43. Republican exhibition in Orel. 2018.
44. Exhibition dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the Lipetsk KHGF. 2018.
45. All-Russian exhibition "Image of the Motherland" - 4 dedications. The 200th
anniversary of the birth of I. S. Turgenev. The city of Orel. 2018.
46. 12th interregional exhibition of the central regions of Russia.
Lipetsk. 2018.
47. Regional exhibition dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the Lipetsk region. 2019.
48. XIII All-Russian hood. Exhibition "Russia XIII". Moscow, Central House of Artists. 2019.
49. Exhibition of Lipetsk artists "Lipetsk. Seven" in Vladimir. IZO Propaganda Center. 2019.
50. Interregional exhibition "Dedication to Deineka". Exhibition hall of the KTC "Zvezdny". Kursk. 2019.
51. Personal exhibition in the Concert Hall "Union". Lipetsk. 2019.
52. Hare Island. The Smelt restaurant, St. Petersburg, September 2021 - April 2022.
53. Library of the Kirov Islands, St. Petersburg, "New Islands" - October 2022.
54. Isaac Schwartz Memorial House Museum, St. Petersburg, "Forty degrees of Heat", March - May 2022.
55. Isaac Schwartz Memorial House Museum, St. Petersburg, "Dream City", May - June 2022
56. Art Russian Design Fest, part 2. "Autumn". Moscow, 2022.
57. List Library. The Shushary. 2022.
58. Library of the Kirov Islands. St. Petersburg. "We can hear each other." 2023.
59. Moscow. Central Exhibition Hall Manege. III Week of Interior and Design. Oct. 2023.
60. CX SPb. "Autumn 2024"
61. CX SPb. "Spring 2025"
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