Alexander Florensky | Pictures painted in Montenegro

Alexander Florensky about his exhibition:
"I am in Montenegro for the second time, and again on the invitation of Dukley Art Center (exactly one year ago, in January 2015, I travelled all over the country and made the book Montenegrin Alphabet).
This time it seemed to me the most logical thing was to make a series of paintings and drawings about Montenegro. Seeing such beauty around (and most beautiful was the view of Kotor and Kotor Bay from my studio window of Jugooceanija) and not to react to it seemed to me somewhat unnatural.
In general, I must say that travelling and then painting my surroundings has been a favourite activity of mine from a young age.
In addition, during a joint trip in 2004 to the Solovki Islands in the White Sea with the artist Ivan Sotnikov (1961-2015), we established the so-called "Society of people who like painting and drawing" which advocated a return to traditional artistic values in the era of postmodernism, and encouraged artists to return to the practice of drawing and painting from life. Over the years the society organised many artistic trips to different cities (from Norilsk to Jerusalem) and took part in many exhibitions and festivals, engaging many different artists along the way, and often those who are removed from such naturalistic art practices.
The exhibition is dedicated to the memory of Ivan Sotnikov, who worked a lot in Montenegro in the last years of his life. ”