Infants VH

Foundation for the Development of Russian Culture "Kraft-Pavlova" presents a solo exhibition of artist Vasil Khannanov "Infants VH". Work. Work, work! Vasil Khannanov's favorite word. He knows everything about how to do it and how to work with any material to turn it into a work of art. Knowledge and experience, strength and will, talent and God - a simple but not every artist has a recipe for success. In the evolution of his work a huge range of styles, directions, techniques. But not in the form of finding a language. Vasil Khannanov worked out an inimitable pictorial, graphic and often difficult to decipher language long ago, at the early stages of his career. He speaks this language with his audience through different kinds of visual art, each time surprising them with new transformations. His distinctive handwriting is recognizable in everything. Whether it is a painting or a graphic series, a project he oversees and the creative association he heads, or a museum of contemporary art built by his own hand in memory of his artist friend Nail Latfullin. Khananov's demiurgic personality generates a need for constant activity, which he realizes in quite different spheres of art and culture. On his account a huge number of paintings, series of paintings, united by a common concept, sheets of unique author's graphics. In recent years, his already rich technical baggage has been enriched with new experiences in the field of collage practices. Vasil Khannanov likes to work in series, which is already somewhat characteristic of his aesthetic and ideological position, not only as an artist but also as a philosopher. After all, philosophical and complex metaphors are an integral category of his creative thought. The author constantly refers the viewer to the archetypes of mythological consciousness, appeals to various historical facts, quotes sacred texts, reproduces ancient signs and symbols. It is impossible not to pay attention to the fact that behind all this there is a flexible mind enriched with a weighty intellect, because only a person possessing such an arsenal of knowledge is capable of creating such works. Infants of Velasquez provoked the artist Khannanov into a series of omens dedicated to Nail Latfullin. Accustomed to working in series, Hannanov painted twelve infants in mixed technique, summarizing practically his entire arsenal, but choosing the fabric fixed on canvas as a constructive device that the artist became particularly fond of in recent years. Women's dresses of different size and color, but almost all out of fashion more than half a century ago, evoke associations with the cozy Soviet way of life, where the faces of women and girls on Hannanov's canvases are absent, with the absolute effect of the characters' presence. Especially touching are the legs that look like existing "infants" peeking out from under the dresses. The backgrounds of the dresses, ranging from post-Impressionist conventionality ("Strawberry Meadow") to the primitive ("City Girl in Pink"), invariably convey a certain nostalgia for the Soviet era. For all their superficial restraint and lack of pretentiousness, these paintings leave an indelible impression on the viewer and fascinate him with their energy. Sometimes it seems that these paintings have their own circulatory system, that they produce a real, palpable, human warmth. Vasil Khannanov achieves this through his striking ability to the so-called cultural emanation, the ability to bring the history of the distant mythological past and land angels for their immediate consideration with one movement of the brush. Artist Vasil Khannanov was born on September 26, 1956 in Oktyabrsky, Republic of Bashkortostan. Graduated from the art department of the Ufa College of Arts in 1979. Painter, graphic artist (unique graphics), artist of assemblage and installations. Organizer and participant of performances, the author of art projects. Since 1980, the participant of republican, zonal, all-russian, all-union, foreign, international, special and group exhibitions. In the creative asset - more than 70 solo exhibitions. Member of the creative association "Genghis Khan" since 1990, head - 1992. Honored Artist of Belarus since 1999, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation since 2017. Editor-in-chief of the magazine-almanac "VC" from 2005 to 2016. The artist's paintings are stored in more than twenty-five state museums in Russia, as well as in private collections in Russia and abroad. He lives and works in Ufa and Moscow.
Curator of the exhibition: Vladimir Ivanov.
Photo by Sergey Militsky