Timur Novikov is a St. Petersburg painter and graphic artist, a great figure of modern art, an organizer of exhibitions, as well as a musician who made a great contribution to art and founded the New Academy of Fine Arts. He lived a long and amazing life, leaving behind a huge legacy. Many do not even suspect how much he has done for Russian culture and, in particular, fine art.
Childhood
Timur was born on September 24, 1958 in the city of Leningrad. The future artist grew up under the supervision of his mother Galina Vasilievna. The boy never knew his father. In his school years, Timur Petrovich Novikov began to go to the drawing club, which was organized in the House of Pioneers.
In 1967, at the age of 9, he showed his work at his first art exhibition of children's drawings in New Delhi. A year later he moved to Novaya Zemlya, but after 4 years the family returned to his native Leningrad. Later, the artist recalled that the nature of the Far North had a great influence on him. And this was reflected in his work and perception of the surrounding space.
First creative steps
In 1973 he became a member of the Club of Young Art Critics, organized by the Russian Museum of St. Petersburg. Soon Timur entered a technical school, where he studies the technology of varnishes and paints. In 1975, he leaves the walls of the institution of his own free will.
Being a convinced pacifist, Timur abandons the army. Instead, in 1976 he joins the Hermitage's Club of Young Art Lovers. During this period, Novikov painted the first paintings. He works not only alone, but also together with other creators.
So, he is united with like-minded Oleg Kotelnikov and forms the ensemble "Monsters".
In 1977, Timur Novikov joined the avant-garde group Chronicle, formed by Boris Koshelokhov. As a member of the group, Novikov took part in his first apartment exhibition.
Self development
In 1978, the artist Timur Novikov realizes the debut curatorial project. He rents premises at the closed church of the Shestakov Mother of God, where he equips workshops. Already on June 2, he oversees his own apartment exhibition. It was possible to meet both the works of young artists of that time and the paintings of Timur Novikov.
Two years later, the artist reunites with his old friend to open an apartment exhibition together. Assa Gallery by Timur Novikov and Oleg Kotelnikov was located on the street. Voinova, d. 24. It was located in a communal apartment, which was rented by artists, but by 1987 the apartment owner ceased to exist.
Later, Timur makes acquaintance with the artist Maria Sinyakova-Urechina in Moscow. Common interests and strong friendships rallied them. Subsequently, Maria gave Timur the right to be called the Chairman of the globe - this nickname was firmly entrenched in him in narrow circles.
In 1981, Timur adjoins the Union of unofficial artists of Leningrad. A year later, at the clubâs first exhibition in the Palace of Culture. Kirov paired with Ivan Sotnikvy, a contemporary artist, he arranges a scandalous action: he exhibits a plywood shield with a hole. In 2014, the film "Zero Object" about Timur Novikov was published - this bright title is consonant with the name of the very action that brought the artist fame.
"New artists"
But Timur did not stop at this success. In 1982, he forms the New Artists group, whose members are Oleg Kotelnikov, Georgy Guryanov, Ivan Sotnikov, Evgeny Kozlov and Kirill Khazanovich. The style of this art group was in tune with Western movements such as New Wilds from Germany, as well as Transavant-garde from Italy, the French Figurasion Libre and East Village from the USA.
âNew artistsâ adhered to such phenomena in art as ânew romanticismâ, ânew figurativenessâ, and ânew waveâ. Timur Novikov and his associates sought to bring something new into the visual arts, to expand the boundaries of generally accepted standards.
1985 - the year of the foundation of the New Academy of All Arts. In the name Timur uses the word "allness" borrowed from the Futurists, which makes a reference to the Russian avant-garde. Thus, the new association began to associate itself with this trend, the prominent representatives of which were Novikov's girlfriend Maria Minyakova-Urechina, as well as Maria Spendiarova and Tatyana Glebova, by the way, who wrote an excellent portrait of Timur Novikov. But âNew Artistsâ stood somewhat apart from the pure avant-garde: they were distinguished, first of all, by the absence of a serious theoretical base.
In addition to the founders of this association, it also included: Evgeny Yufit, Viktor Cherkasov, Vadim Ovchinnikov, Sergey Bugaev, Inal Savchenkov, Oleg Maslov, Andrey Medvedev, Andrey Krisanov, Vladislav Kutsevich, Oleg Maslov and the famous Victor Tsoi.
"New Artists" quickly became popular and were widely heard. In addition, the group held joint events with legendary Western artists such as John Cage, Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol.
Cinema and music
The artist became famous not only thanks to exhibitions. Timur Novikov was also fond of music, and had some success in this area. In 1983, he created the avant-garde group New Composers. At the same time, Novikov collaborated with the Sergey Kuryokhin Orchestra, called "Popular Mechanics."
And also, since 1985, Timur worked with a rock club as the organizer of the concerts of the still quite young Kino group. And Novikov took on the role of an artist-designer who created a unique atmosphere of performances. In 1987, he even invited a talented fashion designer Konstantin Goncharov to work on stage images of members of the group, which included Tsoi, Kasparyan and Guryanov. Thus, Novikov worked hard on the image of "Cinema", leaving his own imprint on him, distinguished by an exquisite taste and understanding of the psychology of the viewer.
At about the same time, Novikov was also involved in New Artists: they staged performances such as Anna Karenina, Shooting Skier, Idiot and Ballet of the Three Lovebirds based on Daniil Kharms with music by V. Verichev and V. Alakhov. The group also tried its hand at cinema. They worked in such areas as "necrorealism" and "parallel cinema" - many experiments were extremely successful and curious.
Creative groups led by Timur Novikov were generally very fertile and versatile: the participants also studied music and literature, ânew criticismâ and even invented new musical instruments, such as, for example, iron.
In 1987, Timur took part in the creation of the film "Assa", acting in it and participating as a production designer. Collaborating with the director Sergei Solovyov, he received the first ever award for decoration in Soviet cinema.
Timur Novikov, in general, became one of the first media artist in the Soviet Union, becoming the ideologist of Pirate Television, and later, in 1999, the director of such famous films as The Nightmare of Modernism and The Golden Section. In addition, Novikov took part in the filming of the film âTwo Captains-2,â filmed by Sergey Debizhev in 1992.
Timur was not one step behind his time: he took part in creating a rave and club movement in such a notorious place as Fontanka-145. And he also became one of the founders of the Gagarin Party at VDNH, the first of which happened in 1991.
Free University
In the winter of 1988, the Free University opened, where Timur Novikov, as well as Boris Yukhananov and Sergey Kurekhin, became a teacher. This institution was located in the Central lecture hall of the association "Knowledge". At one of the meetings of the Free University, Novikov announced that he was taking a "course towards the classics," thus proclaiming neo-academicism as a continuation of the so-called technicalism of art.
Timur made attempts to apply new forms in creating a classical in content and academic in the form of art. The artist called academicism the ability to use various techniques of artistic craft, while neo-academicism, in his opinion, is a transformed form of art, including both the use of traditional methods and the incorporation of new technologies and modern content.
In 1990, the Territory of Art exhibition took place at the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, where he displayed his New York at Night panel. Later, he, together with Dunya Smirnova, organized an exhibition in conjunction with the conference âYouth and Beauty in Artâ, in which he raised the eternal themes of aesthetics, death and immortality, close to each person. Together with Sergei Bugaev, who was nicknamed Africa, as well as Irena Kuksenayte, Viktor Mazin and Olesya Turkina, he founded the magazine âCabinetâ, in which artists covered important topics for the art of that time, raising new questions about creativity.
With Novikov's age, political topics became increasingly concerned. Having a fine spiritual nature, Timur was imbued with high-profile world events and created two political installations dedicated to the American-Iraq war: âShelling of Baghdadâ and âOil Spill in the Persian Gulfâ. This is not just creativity, but a real dialogue with society, politics and the world - this is a message, a cry of the soul about the unbearable horror of war.
Palace Bridge
In the summer of 1990, Timur with his colleagues tried himself in the First Exhibition on the Palace Bridge, which was organized by Ivan Movsesyan. The exhibition vividly reflected the idea of ââartists âdesire for stocks: now they want to create something difficult, they want to talk, to communicate their own thoughts to the world. Participants in the event created works specifically for this exhibition, in accordance with the proposed urban space. The works presented at this event were saved in the collection of the Palace Bridge Museum.
A year later, Novikov takes part in the second such exhibition, which demonstrates the monumental panel "Wrestlers". Movsesyan himself, the organizer of the exhibition, Guryanov, Aces, Egelsky and Olga Komarova also participated in the exhibition.
Neoclassicism
In his works, Novikov often resorted to the imagery of neoclassicism, deliberately enhancing textured and decorative effects. The artist made references to the art of the 80s, elegantly emphasizing the ideas of that time. In the new period, the classical views of the New Academy easily coexisted with the colorful life of people in the 90s.
In the late 80s, Novikov forever abandoned painting. Being influenced by the aesthetic views of his comrade, fashion designer and artist Konstantin Goncharov, he moved away from âexpressive drawingâ to a completely new technique for himself - textile collage. Timur used minimalistic stencils, simplifying his work as much as possible, reducing them to dividing the plane and installing a small symbol on it. This technique made his work more abstract and at the same time deep. Moving away from academic accuracy, Novikov turned to intuitive imagery, which echoed modern views on the art of that time.
The series "Horizons" by Timur Novikov, created during this period, was a resounding success and widely publicized. Echoes of these ideas are now embodied at the present time: the motives of Novikov's works are now used in clothing design, such as, for example, sweatshirts.
New ideas
In 1991, Timur Novikov held the exhibition "Neocademism" in the Russian Museum. All the same Goncharov, Guryanov, Bugaev and Egelsky took part in the exhibition. Timur exhibited his work "Narcissus", as well as "Apollo, trampling the red square." Goncharov also showed the audience âKnightâs cloaks,â which look like spacious cloaks of velvety material, decorated with extravagant inserts from postcards.
Since that time, Novikov began to actively use photographs and postcards with reproductions of classical painting. And also after this exhibition, Timur began to resort to images of Greek deities, which, in his opinion, symbolized the "living force of creativity." Aphrodite, Apollo, Eros began to appear on his works. A series of paintings was dedicated to the history of Cupid and Psyche.
In the work of the artist began to flicker great aesthetes with a difficult fate - Oscar Wilde, Ludwig of Bavaria. Separate exhibitions âOn Beautyâ, âSecret Cultâ, âReginaâ, âLudwig II of Bavaria andâ Swan Lake â,â Swan Song of German Romanticism âwere even held in their honor.
NAII
By 1993, neo-academics had teamed up at the New Academy of Fine Arts. It included Novikov himself, as well as Medvedev, Guryanov, Tuzv and Egelsky, who received the title of honorary professors. NAII occupied premises in the now legendary town at 10, Pushkinskaya.
Here were exhibitions of professors - Olga Tobreluts (nee Komarova), Geryanova, Bella Matveeva, as well as Maslov, Goncharov, Egelsky and Kuznetsov. Also, screenings of works here were organized by students of the NAII Egor Ostrov and Stanislav Makarov.
By 1995, Timur Novikov moved to Berlin, where he did not stop his creative activity. He organized the exhibition Sunset of German Romanticism, which also had the name Architecture in the Third Reich. It was based on projects of monuments on the borders of the Third Reich. However, the scandalous exhibition was closed at the behest of censorship.
In 1997, Timur already returned to Russia and continued his active work. He organized a feast of neoacademism in the Pavlovsk Palace. The music for the event was performed by composer and musician Brian Eno.
At the same time, the artist formed the training classes of the NAII in the Mikhailovsky Castle. And he also participated in the creation of the European Society of Classical Aesthetics with the participation of Professor Alexander Zaitsev. Thus, Timur did not forget about his brainchild, regularly making efforts to its development.
Late activity
In 1998, Timur became the founder of the Institute of the History of Contemporary Art and the Art Will organization, which advocated the preservation of the latest art culture. Together with Andrei Khlobystin, he founded the newspaper âArtistic Willâ and the magazine âSusaninâ.
During this period, the artist changed his views in the direction of conservatism, arguing that the classics - a form of glorification of Russian statehood. Thus, he declared the need to strengthen the reputation of St. Petersburg as a cultural capital, while not competing with international centers of modern art, such as New York or London. In the 90s, Novikov was engaged primarily in publishing.
On May 23, 1998, at the 7th fort of Kronstadt NAII, Timur, together with âArtistic Willâ, held an artistic memory event. In an empty fort, they staged a "Burning of Vanities" in honor of the 500th anniversary of the execution of Savonarola at the Florentine Piazza Signoria. During the action, painters burned their paintings.
Last years
During a trip to America in 1997, the artist became seriously ill. The disease led to loss of vision. Despite this serious ailment, he continued to lead the New Academy, as well as conduct lectures at St. Petersburg State University and other large educational institutions of the city. In addition, Timur was the host of the program "New Academy" on the radio station "Port FM", which popularizes classical music. He transferred part of his art collection to the Russian Museum and the Hermitage.
In 2001, Timur participated in the exhibition âBetween Earth and Sky,â dedicated to the neoclassical trends in contemporary art, which was held in Ostend, Belgium.
Death
At one time, many contemporaries wondered why Timur Novikov died. This active, active, creative person did not risk his life in vain, did not burn years, and did not even give up after he was completely blind. But the great artist suddenly died of banal pneumonia on May 23, 2003. Novikov was buried in the Smolensk cemetery in his native St. Petersburg.