Solo Show of Works by the Renowned Master of Monumental Painting Mikhail Poletaev in the Russian Academy of Arts

The Russian Academy of Arts hosts over 50 easel canvases – portraits, landscapes, still lifes, theme compositions, as well as sketches and photographs of the church and secular wall paintings by the internationally recognized master of monumental painting, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation Mikhail Poletaev.

The centerpieces of the exposition are large-scale photographs of Mikhail Poletaev’s church murals which he has been working on alone for more than three years already. In this solo project Mikhail Poletev is combining the “carpet” wall painting typical to Russian medieval monumental art with academic painting. The idea to involve a viewer into the entire painting space and make him a participant in the Biblical events has resulted from the artist’s work on the diorama for the Ataturk Memorial Complex in Ankara.

The philosophical interpretation of modern topics and themes, adherence to life painting, search for new plastic and picturesque “methods”, historical perspective and some ambiguity of time, delicate sense of color are distinguished features of his works. The master is equally skillful in mosaic, iconography, oil and tempera painting.

In 1988 Mikhail Poletaev graduated from S. Stroganov Moscow State University of Industrial and Applied Arts where he had majored in monumental and decorative art under Prof. O.P. Filatchev. Since 1995 he has been a member of the Artists’ Union of Russia. Poletaev has been involved in the wall painting of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior (Moscow), the Church of Joy of All Who Sorrow (Moscow), Cathedral in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. He was personally invited to Turkey to participate in the creation of the diorama for the Ataturk Memorial Complex in Ankara. His works are in private collections in Russia, the Netherlands, Germany, the United States, Japan, Australia, Great Britain, Austria.




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