The artist Neonilla Medvedeva, whose works can be seen in the gallery “Aminori” until July 6, shows an idyllic set of urban landscapes, which is complemented by the solitude of the sea coast and other motifs. In a conversation with Latvijas Radio, she talks about her love for realism, as well as spiritual painting.
Neonilla Medvedeva’s works, which are currently on display at the Aminori Gallery in her exhibition NeoStories, balance on the border of documentary realism and decorative subjectivity, sometimes slipping on one side or the other, but not completely standing on either side.
“Life is more important than art. It needs to be combined.
It seems to me that the creative force that can create something is important. Whether it’s painting, music, building a house, planting something in the garden. To give birth to a child is also an art, it is very important, it is what separates man from animal, and it is such a spiritual path. This is how God created us. That is his feature in us, and it seems to me that it is also art, “admits Neonilla Medvedeva.
–
Small-format paintings show scenes from various Latvian cities, mainly those in which the artist has participated in plein airs. Here and there you can see a remnant of the Soviet period – a truck “ZIL” or the inscription “Miru mir” / “Peace to the world”, laid out of red bricks in the construction of the rest of the white.
Neonilla strokes allow a very limited amount of expression – the depictions are warm, the buildings have the wisdom of an old man, while the landscape of the city (or port, seaside) itself is subordinated to the painter’s subjective and somewhat alienated observation.
I confess to Neonilla that when I first saw her works, I was absolutely sure that their author was prolific and youthful in artistic terms, but still an old master. In the end, it turns out that we are peers.
“You are not the first to notice that these paintings may be of an adult. One writer says that I have old works.
It seems to me that it has to do with something else. Maybe with that school, with some conservative thinking, a love for realism and a realistic school, “says Medvedev.
She believes that realism is not old-fashioned or old-fashioned, because, for example, contemporary art is an abstraction and only a hundred years old, but in the past everyone painted realistically, and it has existed in the world for a long time.
–
“It is perfectly normal to depict what you see,” admits the artist.
Neonilla Medvedeva was born in 1987 and obtained a master’s degree in painting from the Latvian Academy of Arts. She has organized 10 solo exhibitions in Latvia, Sweden, Germany and Greece, and since 2008 has participated in more than 20 group exhibitions and international projects in Latvia and abroad.
How does Neonilla choose the places that will make her the heroines of her paintings – is there a pre-arranged route or does the artist give in to chance?
“As is usually the case? We have plein airs and then I am invited to go somewhere. I participate and paint everything around me.
These are such sketches, and for now, that’s all I can do, because I can also paint bigger works. Etudes are just the beginning of some bigger work, “Medvedeva said.
She mentions that a lot can be said even in small works.
“Other times there are two options – either you are in some circumstances and then you have to paint what you see, for example, if you are taken somewhere or it is raining, then you can’t do anything anymore and then you have time for three hours , you have to paint, you are looking for a place, “explains Medvedev.
“Either there is a situation where you specifically go and think, for example, it might take one day for me to walk and look at the places I like, those compositions. Then there is the research work. I am attracted to light, tonality and maybe also Other times you can see some objects, such as there are boots, or there is an orange car that left quickly. “
–
A couple of works also show more unusual solutions, for example, passers-by in the streets of Bauska, who move along the plane not only perpendicularly, but also lying down, as if pouring from the side of the canvas.
“It was last year, there was a fifth plein air in the summer, and it was already too much. Then I got tired, I was already tired, and the weather was no rainy. Then I had to change something differently, change something, and then I started with their work, where it ‘s a portrait, “Medvedev introduces.
The artist Neonilla Medvedeva’s hand has also been responsible for decorating churches: she is the author of Saldus Sv. For the altarpiece of the crypt of the Roman Catholic Church of Peter and Paul, worked at Jelgava St. Simeon and St. Anna Orthodox Cathedral wall paintings. I asked the painter if these were not the most responsible tasks in her career so far.
“In Jelgava, the Orthodox Church there was so responsible. There is a high church, about 20 meters above the ground. And it was quite responsible in the sense that you had to climb up and paint under the dome,” Medvedeva recalls. The school of realism also helped her create church paintings.
“I already feel that I, as a person, fit into spiritual painting. It seems that I get it. I like it too,” Medvedeva admits.
Neonilla Medvedeva’s exhibition at Aminori Gallery can be viewed until July 6, while her reflections on the artist’s mission, everyday feelings and impressions created by observations can be read on the Aminori gallery page on Facebook.
–
–
