Died art critic Sergei Solovyov – MK

Art critic Sergei Solovyov died unexpectedly at the age of 52. One of the sharpest art critics of our generation, who did not hesitate to write what others were silent about. A curator who loved to break patterns and open up new territories and horizons for art, as he did in his native city of Ivanovo. Pleasant in communication, positive and interesting interlocutor, he could be moderately cynical and ironic, but not evil. The cause of death was a stroke.

We met a long time ago – on the way to the Pushkin estate Mikhailovskoye, where the cultural and historical award “Heritage Keepers” was awarded. The way to Pskov is not a short one, and in a day in one compartment you can tell a whole life. Of all the fascinating stories of Serezha, one stuck in my memory the most – that he got a sea urchin.

Why a sea urchin? I was surprised.

“It’s just beautiful,” he answered easily.

Indeed, there is some kind of conceptual magic in sea urchins – akin to deep works of modern art. When Seryozha came up with the idea of ​​installing an aquarium with a strange needle-like pet, it seemed that everything was simple: admire this prickly beauty as if it were an installation and throw something to eat. But no, it turned out that such a neighbor is whimsical at home. But who else would have thought of something like an extraordinary person with complex self-organization?

Then Serezha was the editor-in-chief of the Vash Leisure magazine and managed to make several more publications “from” and “to”, as well as write notes about cultural events in various specialized and popular publications. Art critic Sergei Solovyov was somewhat reminiscent of a sea urchin: his pen was always sharply sharpened, while possessing a special beauty.

Then he left journalism and became a researcher at the Anatoly Zverev Museum and editor of the AZ publishing project. Art director and curator Polina Lobachevskaya invited him to the museum. The new and stylish museum soon grew into a serious art institution, which is engaged not only in the study of the work of one of the most original and odious artists of the second half of the twentieth century, Anatoly Zverev. In many ways, this happened due to the fact that Solovyov was creative and active in his team.

A year ago, the museum organized an art award for contemporary artists, hosted by Sergei. The motto of the award was the phrase once uttered by Zverev: “Life is constrained, art is free.” This is what distinguishes the award from the rest – no rules, perfect freedom of creativity without regard to the stereotyped settings of a narrow art community.

And three years ago, Sergei stood at the beginning of another new movement – the festival “The First Avant-Garde Factory” in his native Ivanovo. Everyone knows that this is a city of brides, but few know that this is one of the places where constructivism was forged. In the 1920s, in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Sochi, they actively implemented a new experimental architecture, based on conciseness of forms, simplicity and functionality. But only in Ivanovo, entire districts created by the constructivists, including the central one, have been preserved. The new festival was supposed to transform the city, drawing on its avant-garde history. And it did work.

This year, the first curator of the festival, Sergei Solovyov, resigned, handing over the reins of management to his classmate, Irina Golubeva. He wanted to do something new. He was preparing for the presentation of his new book about Anatoly Zverev, which he began during the pandemic.

In general, Sergei Solovyov did not look like a classical art critic (by the way, he is a specialist not only in the art of the twentieth century, but also in the Italian Renaissance, to which his dissertation was devoted). Always fit, smartly dressed, clean-shaven, with a Hollywood smile – well, at least now on the cover of a fashion magazine. Sport was a part of his daily life: he went to the gym once or twice a week. There he had a stroke. On Sunday, on the eve of All Saints’ Day – that evening in the art environment they remembered another art critic who died a year ago, Alexander Panov (Fyodor Romer), – Seryozha became ill during training. It is not known what caused the stroke: maybe the atmospheric pressure went berserk when it felt the approach of winter, or it was the consequences of the covid that Sergey suffered during the days of the pandemic …

The sudden death of Sergei Solovyov, who was only 51 years old, became known two days later. He lived alone. All relatives are in Ivanovo. It is strange that the phone worked until the last: beeps went on, but no one picked up the phone.

On November 3, the AZ Museum should have held a celebration in honor of the birthday of Anatoly Zverev, it was Sergei who prepared the event. The event, of course, was cancelled. Instead of a holiday, they will remember an art critic and a friend. Our terrible turbulent time spares no one…

On November 4, at about 14:00, a funeral service will take place (the address is being specified), and from 15:00, the Zverev Museum will be open to everyone who wants to say goodbye to Sergei Solovyov. On November 5, at 15:00, a commemoration will be held at the Central House of Writers. At the same time, a farewell will take place in Ivanovo, and then a funeral. Serezha will rest next to his grandmother, whom he loved very much.