Vladislav Tatarinov - artist, teacher, member of Russian Artists Association and National Pastel Society of Russia. Vladislav has been painting for over 25 years. He works with pastels and oil. He has been taking part in solo and collective art exhibitions since 1996. Before the 7th NPS Juried Member Show “Crossing. 2021” we talked with Vladislav about his work and his artistic journey.
- Vladislav, who influenced your art most and why? - First of all, Mikhail Georgievich Abakumov, as a fellow countryman and mentor. In addition to that, Joaquin Sorolla, as an artist of light and color, Andrew Wyeth, as a master of emotion and composition, Vladimir Pimenov, as an artist-philosopher.
Mikhail Abakumov, People's Artist of Russia, played a big role in my development as an artist in general and a pastelist in particular. I regularly visited his workshop, saw him working and he often told me off for my mistakes. He taught me to pay maximum attention to the composition. Abakumov is known first of all as the author of large-scale Russian landscapes and brilliant small oil studies, but he was a great pastelist as well. It is no coincidence that his last lifetime solo exhibition was called "Pastel". His pastel artworks are some of the best I've ever seen.
- Why have you chosen pastel as one of your main media? - Pastel is a technique, which makes you work on graphic composition. At the same time, this medium is vivid and lets you work with multiple layers.
- How has your artistic style changed in the course of time? - I’ve been working a lot on color, with time I’ve got rid of black and brown tones. I do my best to show light in my artworks – my reference points here are Abakumov and Joaqiun Sorolla. I hope, over the years I’ve come to better understanding of composition. In pastel I work on multilayering and in painting, in general, I think about how to get through to people by all means, how to evoke their emotions. - Can you describe you artwork in three words? - Emotion, light, story. - What paintings or projects are you most proud of? - I’m not proud of anything. I’m very critical of everything I do. - Can you say something about yourself that would surprise our artists? - I believe that all the painting is in the head – we grind impressions. It all started from a primitive man, who drew a bison and a mammoth on the wall of his cave. We haven’t gone too far from that man. - What is going on in your artistic life now? - I’m working on the project “Visotsky’s Moscow”. The exhibition takes place in the State Museum of Vladimir Visotsky in Moscow this autumn. It is going to include 20-25 paintings in pastel and oil, featuring places in Moscow, associated with Visotsky, as well as restoring the appearance of Moscow in the 40s and 70s. I’m studying the biography of Vysotsky, photo and video materials, chronicle of that time, I’ve painted a lot of studies in those places. As for my artwork in general, I paint in oil and pastel in turn - when I get tired of one material, I switch to the other one. I try to improve my pastel technique, expand the horizons and make it recognizable. The most important thing that I’m obsessed with now, that makes me excited and interested is composition. That is the thing I pay attention to in other artists’ works. I’m hooked by strong, sharp and fresh solutions, fully revealing the image. - What do you pay attention to while judging? - Judging is a challenge for me. I respect other people’s art and I know very well how hard you need to work to get results. The first thing we see in a picture is composition. How appealing is it? Does it explore the topic fully? The character is also vital, if we talk about portrait or animal painting. I always pay attention to how the material is performing in an artwork, that is in what ways pastel technique helps to show the idea of composition – pictorial features and drawing quality, if it is classical realistic painting, and work of color and line, if it is more decorative, expressive or abstract picture. In art I am of broad mind and wide interests – from Albrecht Durer and Andrew Wyeth to Pavel Filonov and Wassily Kandinsky. No matter what artistic style you have, as long as you are engrossed with your work. When a painting has emotion and drive, technical shortcomings take a back seat.
What I really don’t like is candid photo perspective - when you can see, that a painting is nothing but a copied photo. I use photographs in my work, but as a secondary tool. I also don’t like syrupy salon painting, for example, roses in a golden vase and sliced water-melon on the table next to a beauty of a girl head to toe in silk, who is cuddling a kitty, and a pretty cathedral behind the window. But, surely, it’s a matter of taste. - And finally, the question of the hour – what do you recommend to do in order to qualify for the exhibition? - Give your whole heart to your painting and put what you want into it.
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