Alexander
Vladimirovich Nikitin

He was born in the 1960s into a military family. The family moved around a lot. As a child, A. Nikitin lived in Estonia, Chukotka, and various regions of Russia and Belarus. In fourth grade, going to another school, he began to engage in the drawing circle. Already in a year, he was able to take first place in the competition of the best drawings of the Minsk region. After school he decided to follow in his father's footsteps and entered a naval school. After graduation, he served 8 years in the Far North on nuclear submarines. He participated in long-distance cruises and was a combat naval officer, which he is proud of to this day. Military service helped the future artist to grow up and mature as a person. Gradually, more and more place in the life of Alexander began to take painting. From a hobby and passion it turned into his main profession. The real Nikitin is a Russian fair, an open soul, a combination of juicy strokes, a barbaric "fight" of colors, Russian suburb and Russian village, with their harmonics, gingerbread. Alexander began his journey as a realist painter. Already while working on the sketches for his first serious work "Among the waves", he showed the talent of a marine painter. In sketches and landscape sketches he coped with a task of achieving similarity with the creative manner of Aivazovsky. In the portrait painting Alexander is closer to Kustodiev. The picturesque plasticity, free long stroke, bright characteristic of appearance, the emphasis on the artistry of the model. Alexander Nikitin's works are full of ineffable mood. He works in an impressionistic manner. Much of his work is devoted to the sea. Alexander served on a missile submarine cruiser, in the Far North, where he began to paint professionally. The sea in his paintings - it's the living element with its own "mood. The artist depicts it then in the storm, then in the tense expectation of a storm, then in the serene calm of the calm. Alexander's work is distinguished by an amazing perception of color. He subordinates the color of everything depicted in the picture to the main colorful scale in which the picture is sustained. Thereby achieving harmony and wholeness of picturesque impression. Since the early 1990s, Alexander Nikitin has been developing an original genre of landscape and portrait, or rather, portrait-painting, landscape-type, in which the model is linked to the surrounding landscape or interior. At the same time it is a generalized image of a person and the unique individuality of nature, revealing it through the surrounding world of color. In their form, these portraits are related to Nikitin's genre images-types: "A Stranger," "A Walk in the Summer Garden," and "On the Shore of the Gulf of Finland. But the master's interests go beyond portraiture: it is no coincidence that after military service on a submarine, he chooses the occupation of his life: he becomes an artist and gallerist. In 2003, Nikitin paints a new concept - a series of paintings on the themes of bright and festive bourgeois and merchant life ("Still Life with Apples and a Samovar"), which shows the features of Art Nouveau. The works are spectacular and decorative, revealing the Russian character through the genre of everyday life. On a deeply realistic basis the maestro created a poetic dream, a fairy tale of Russian life. Great importance in these works is given to the color spot, the forms are generalized and simplified - the artist turns to acrylic. Semi-abstract forms, blurry drawings and fantasy subjects are characteristic of the works of this period. At the present time the artist shifts more and more in the direction of classical Russian and impressionism, Korovin's school, and the influence on the style was exerted by the contemporary master and friend of Alexander - Vladimir Kozhevnikov. Alexander Nikitin works in different techniques: classical oil painting, watercolor, tempera. The author's works are characterized by a careful drawing, a large number of details, the depth and richness of color, the richness of color, virtuosity of the brushstroke. Exhibitions: 1998 - Solo exhibition in the gallery "Tyzengauz", Belarus, Grodno; 1999 - Exhibition area in the academy. V. I. Mukhina, St. Petersburg, Russia; 2001, the Manege, St. Isaac's Square, St. Petersburg, Russia; 2002, solo exhibition, Dijon, France; 2004, solo exhibition in Monaco, France; 2007, Solo exhibition in Moscow, Russia. Monaco, France; 2007 Personal exhibition in the Center for books and graphics, St. Petersburg, Russia; 2009. Manezh, St. Isaac's Square, St. Petersburg, Russia. Many works are in private collections in the Russian Federation, Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Finland, USA. The portrait of Prof. Yu. I. Medvedev is in the Gallery of Authors of Scientific Discoveries at the Russian National Library.