“The artist actively uses traditions, genres and types of folk art”

Kommersant FM columnist Dmitry Butkevich talks about what lies at the heart of the work of Yuri Tatyanin, whose exhibition opened in the Rostokino gallery.

The Rostokino gallery, which is part of the Moscow Exhibition Halls association, has opened a personal exhibition of Lipetsk artist Yuri Tatyanin. We called it (and I acted here as a curator) “60/30”. Yuri is 60 years old and has been painting since 1993. Self-taught. He calls himself a genius of the Lipetsk land, an artist and a bookseller – he’s joking, of course.

Back in the 90s, according to him, when he became interested in the work of the famous performance artist and inventor Joseph Beuys, who explained to a dead hare how to understand modern art, he came up with a legend. According to it, Boyce studied at a flight school in Lipetsk before the war, and here he was bitten by Lipetsk hares. From then on he hated them. Many believed in this, and some believed that Tatyana himself actually invented this artist…

“There are two themes – life or love and death, non-existence. I balance between them. And everything that surrounds me serves as inspiration. Texts by my favorite writers, conversations overheard among the people. I put all this through myself, and I get some of my own work. Usually, if a topic arises, it won’t let me go for some time until I write it all down, make a series, and in several techniques,” says Yuri Tatyanin.

This is what the series looks like. For example, “Love and Family” – with the inevitable cats, this is another important character for Tatyana. Painting – oil or acrylic, on canvas or, say, on a bath towel. Then there are planar wooden sculptures or groups. Then – embroidery with stockinette stitch. Next there may be voluminous wooden work.

Even from the description it is clear how actively Yuri uses traditions, genres and types of folk art. His work fits perfectly into the concept of the festival, which promotes unification at different venues – “Russian Style. A view from the 21st century.” The projects are dedicated to the interpretation by contemporary artists of the traditions of the so-called Russian style or historicism, dating back to the beginning of the 20th century.