Alexander Antonovich Selivanov (born August 23, 1957, p. Orshanka, Orsha District, Mari ASSR - died on September 29, 2000, G. Yoshkar-Ola, Republic of Mari El).
A cultural figure, painter, avant-gardist, surrealist, graphic artist, icon painter, member of the Union of Artists of Russia (1988).
Alexander Selivanov was born in a family of workers. From 1967 he lived in Yoshkar-Ola, he studied at the City Children's Art School. After graduating from the Moscow Art and Industrial School im. MI Kalinin served in the army. For some time he worked as a senior art editor in the editorial and publishing department of the State Committee on Publishing of the Mari ASSR. In the 1980s, the artist studied at the Moscow Polygraphic Institute, defended his thesis for excellent.
In 1983, Alexander Selivanov moved with his first family to Tashkent, where he worked as art editor at the literature and art publishing house named after Gafur Gulyam, senior art editor at the Tashkent branch of the Raduga publishing house. In 1988 he was admitted to the Union of Artists of Russia. He returned to Yoshkar-Ola in the early 1990s.
Married the artist was twice. In the last years of his life he served art as the Director of the Yoshkar-Ola Art School, he also headed the regional branch of the Union of Artists of Russia.
Friends, colleagues, teachers and students of the Yoshkar-Ola Art School, where he was a director, knew him as an energetic, cheerful, fair, responsible person.
The canvases of Alexander Selivanov, an extraordinary painter, always aroused interest among viewers at republican exhibitions. They were distinguished by their color, they “blazed” with all the shades of fire, they fascinated with their stylistics. The heroes of his plots unequivocally keep some kind of secret.
The search for his path in art Alexander Selivanov began in the years of perestroika, which had a strong influence on the fate of many of his colleagues. The diversity of genres and styles, the diversity of trends and directions - all this is clearly reflected in the canvases and graphic sheets of the artist, who intuitively managed to express the spirit of that “troubled” time.
Public recognition Alexander Selivanov received as a schedule.
Graphic works, easel sheets and book series were awarded with encouraging diplomas at all-Union book contests in Moscow. As a graphic, he skillfully owned a pen and a pencil, “progressive methods of design books and posters” - this is the opinion of authoritative metropolitan critics.
Alexander Selivanov’s legacy is diverse. These are realistic landscapes, portraits, icons, easel graphics, paintings with inimitable “selivanovsky” colors and much more. Many of his works are distinguished by their relaxedness in plastic and composition. For the artist there were no restrictions in style, while he wrote incredibly detailed images of the saints. He subtly felt the color and was able to accurately express the details and the main idea of the work. His surrealist works somehow resemble the work of Bosch. The artistic technique and originality of his work is undoubtedly amazing. Alexander Selivanov is one of the few artists whose works make you stop and reflect on the essence of being and concentrate on the deep details of his works.
The life of the artist, full of creative plans, highly professional, erudite deep man and artist was cut short abruptly and tragically on the night of September 29-30, 2000. The criminals, or rather a group of persons, having climbed onto the "visor" of the store of the house along Panfilov Street in the city of Yoshkar-Ola, where he lived on the second floor, entered his apartment. The artist was killed by intruders, and they did it with such cruelty that it becomes terrible to realize the martyr's cross and the last minutes of this deep man’s life, artist and creator, who managed to stay alive not only in his graphic, pictorial, avant-garde and surrealistic works, but and in the eternal faces of the saints. The more understandable is his love for God in life, the depth, detail and sensitivity of his works as an icon painter. He managed to invest his eternal contribution to the painting and drawing images in the Trinity Church such as the images of the Kazan, Our Lady of Vladimir, the image of Jesus Christ, John the Forerunner, George the Victorious and many other works.