Igor Barkhatkov
Igor Barkhatkov
Minsk, Belarus
About Igor Barkhatkov
While looking at the works of Igor Barkhatkov you forget that they are paintings. They seem to be life itself. The greatest art is that which you do not notice, as A. Rodin said. There is no need though to reveal the “secret” to a modern experienced art gallery visitor that the impression of identity of a painting and nature is an illusion. In reality every artist animates his work with his thoughts, feelings and ideas. To put it another way: he extracts from nature everything which is in tune both with his soul and with his time. The grass is green in Holland and in France and near Moscow, and Russian pines do not differ from French ones, but even so you could not confuse landscapes of Sezanne with those of Shishkin, Corot with Levitan or Savrasov with Byalynitsky-Birulya. By the brushwork of every artist nature becomes different, it acquires novelty and unique features. Just glance at Barkhatkov’s paintings: there are no people. Nature is free of both the presence of people and the fruits of civilization. The artist gives space to the Spirit of God and the lines of the paintings are positioned horizontally to let it breathe freely. Low gray clouds, a strip of a forest on the horizon, lines of trees in the foreground, ridges and the cornices of izba (log cabin) roofings — all of these are horizontal. The upper and lower parts of the painting stop being neutral and join the melody of horizontality. Here you can clearly hear the march of Time, the objective and absolute cosmic Time, which is fully dependent on the Superior will. It moves quietly and evenly from the left side of the canvas to the right and we have no power to speed up or slow down its movement. We can only surrender to its cosmic rhythms. The light in his canvases is indeed the Comforting Spirit pacifying the soul. There is so much kindness and hope in the soft light of a winter morning, in the cool sun of early autumn, in the golden brilliance of fading trees! Sad are the meadows, coppices and gray little peasant houses: who knows what fate evenly flowing time will bring them? Won’t their peace be destroyed by the grinding of excavators and the wailing of the saws? Won’t the peasants’ houses be crushed by a heartless bulldozer which leaves naked with all the shamelessness of a rapist the innermost secrets of a human dwelling: the bread-giving stove, wornout floor boards, a shred of floral wallpaper... The painter’s look is sad, he gazes at his model as if for the last time, as if saying farewell to a dear person. There is such a law in human history: what is once created will never disappear. Culture has vast stores but has no incinerators. Even the heritage of primitive people has lived up to now in myths, in the inmost recesses of our mind and in archeological findings. As to the culture of ancient and modem times, it goes without saying that sometimes Plato and Seneca are closer to us and more understandable than Heidegger or Bachelard. Realism in art is alive for ever and thus it will stay. Never will fields and meadows, trees, grass and flowers lose their value, never will they become unnecessary. Keeping all these in form and in paint, art will never lose its attractiveness. Will a modern city dweller understand the purity and truth of this painting? Will his ears deafened by the noises of our hectic life hear the silence of these forest meadows, wastelands and village outskirts? With profound and deep faith I answer: Yes, this art we do need. What is more, people will understand it. Lenina Mironova
Education:
January 5, 1958 born in Minsk
1974 and 1976 studied at the studio of V. Sumarev
From 1975 regular visits to the creative studio complex Academic Cottage 1976 and 1985 attended the drawing studio of 0. Lutzevich
1978 and 1984 studied at the Belarus State Theatre and Art Institute under P. Krochalev and M. Dantzig
1984 and 1987 studied at the workshops of the Fine Arts Academy of the USSR in Minsk under M. Savitsky
1986 studies in Germany
1988 member of the USSR Artists’ Union
1991 workshops in the village of Mlyovo, Tver region, Russia
1998 International plein air Vivafirenze, Florence
2001 Byalynitski-Birulya international plein air
Since 1993 has lived in the village of Khoruzhi near Minsk
Exhibitions:
1982 All-Union students exhibition, Leningrad
1982 National art exhibition «Poets of Belarusian Land» dedicated to the 100th birthday anniversary of Yanka Koupala and Yakub Kolas, Minsk
1983 National art exhibition «Youth of Republic», Minsk
1984 National art exhibition «Forty Years of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War», Minsk
1985 National art exhibition «Cultural Workers for Peace», Minsk
1986 All-Union exhibition «We are Building Communism», Moscow
1987 Exhibition of young artists, Tallinn
1987 Personal exhibition, Minsk
1990 National art exhibition dedicated to 500th birthday anniversary of Frantsisk Skarina,
Minsk
1991 Personal exhibition, Minsk
1992 Exhibition of Belarusian artists, Dubai
1993 Salon Drouot Richelieu, Paris
1993 Galerie Heize, Salzburg
1995 Personal exhibition, Minsk
1995 Galerie Fayla, Brussels
1996 Officina del’ Arte, Orzinuovi
1996-2003 Peter Breughel Art Gallery, Amsterdam
1997 Personal exhibition at the Peter Breughel Art Gallery, Amsterdam
1997 Peter Noldus Art Gallery, Amsterdam
1997 Galerie Rocha, Barbizon
1997-2003 Fine Art Gallery Aggie Hendrikx, Roermond
1997 National art exhibition, Minsk
1998 Exhibition of the Barkhatkov Dynasty, Murmansk
1998 Project Vivafirenze Romualdo del Bianco Fondation, Florence
1998 Znad Wilii Gallery, Vilnius
1999 National exhibition of landscape, Minsk
1997 Project «Five Seasons of the Year», Minsk
1998 Exhibition of artists’ dynasties «Fathers and Sons», Minsk
2000 International art salon «Art Expo», Moscow
2000 Personal exhibition at the Fine Art Gallery Aggie Hendrikx, Roermond
2000 «The Pendulum of Time», Minsk
2000 Landscapes of Belarus, Brescia, Italy
2001 National art exhibition «Belarus — to the Third Millennium», Minsk
2001 «Flowers Show», Philadelphia
2002 Exhibition dedicated to the 120th anniversary of Yakub Kolas and Yanka Kupala, Minsk
2002 Dall’ ‘800 italiano al ‘900 russo, Brescia
2002 «Central Artists’ House - 2002», Moscow Art Salon
2002—2003. De Kazerne Galerie Wiek XX, Nieuweschans, the Netherlands
2004 Personal exhibition, Orzinuovi
2004, 2007, 2009 Personal exhibition at the LaSandr-art art gallery, Minsk
2007 Posttradition, Minsk
2007 Pittori dell' Est, Chiari
2007 Russian Art Gallery, Moscow
2008 «My Quiet Country», Minsk, Nesvizh
2011 Personal exhibition, Janow Podlaski
2011 Exhibition «In 3B format», Minsk
2012 Exhibition «Soul of Belarus», Prague
2013 Exhibition «Four brushes», Minsk
2014 «Disappearing Belarus», Minsk
2015 Belorussian still life exhibition, Minsk
2015 Personal exhibition, Trebic