REVIEWS
Vladimir Ryklin
RYKLIN FINE ART
REVIEWS
Art Dom Gallery
9127 N 68th pl, Paradise Vally, AZ, 85253 “INK and PAPER” Graphics – an ancient type of fine art that first emerged in the Stone Age about a hundred thousand years BCE. Back then, it took the form of rock carvings and depictions of animals, scratched on the walls of caves, on bone, or on stone. To this day, there are numerous petroglyphs and inscriptions, the most famous of which are located in Altamira (Spain) and the cave of Font-de-Gaume in France. Previously, these figures served as a means of communication and information transfer when there was no written language. It was during these times that the main purpose of the graphics was to reflect the world around them, fixing events, natural phenomena, and accidents while using its own means, artistic techniques and technology. Metaphor becomes the norm when the language is forgotten. Vladimir Ryklin turned metaphorical graphic art into research techniques. He was one of the forebears of Soviet postmodernism, among the people who launched the most powerful artistic movements of the sixties and seventies of the last century, and he has long been trying to bring back the graphic arts as he understands it. To do this, he dissects reality. But you can look at it in a different way: he collects illusory space, a technique that was discovered during the renaissance and overthrown by modernism in the active experience of synthetic perception. The idea of Vladimir Ryklin’s graphic works cannot be divorced from the era “bygone days of yore”; they are the absolute reflection of the events and experiences of the author. And while the modern young and biased viewers can also appreciate Ryklin’s images and graphics, there is a certain “load of the past”, that those of his generation more closely understand. Vladimir was born in 1934 in Moscow, Soviet Union. Like many of his contemporaries, his childhood was marked by the surreal duality of consciousness of the Soviet era; during which seemingly irreconcilable elements of society peacefully coexisted. Great achievements and unimaginable atrocities stood side by side, with brave marches and optimistic proclamations made at the same time that the groans of millions emanated from the Gulag. The country so proud of itself and its accomplishments, but so ashamed of its rulers and leaders… All of this is reflected in Ryklin’s work. The powerful, ferocious talent of the author stops time and makes idle talk subside, the moment of truth is here – the stricken audience in awe and astonishment absorbs the visual language of gestures and the silent call of the Master. Vladimir Ryklin’s graphics are stunning and overwhelming, causing a storm of emotions and revealing many of the secret images that have existed in our minds that we couldn’t see before. We have before us an example of an art in which there is no false bottom, revealing a conceptual bottom beneath, and numerous “red herrings” inhabiting the living space, but there is no long boring explanation – there is the work with the material, there is a parameter of “completion”. This is the art which from very outset addresses itself to sensual perception – to sight. In the words of Francis Bacon, “Vision is the most solid and fullest of communications of all those in existence.” In short, a conceptual and intermediary or transit point here is entirely absent. Any grounds for the decoding of meanings remain on the surface and, first and foremost, play a shadowing role. Any methods for deciphering values remain on the surface. Ryklin’s Graphics is a splicing of the real and the virtual, a seam beneath which personal emotions are concealed, pushed out of the confines of consciousness. The author does not oppose or convey any message; it forms a cast of its own internal state. These are just clotted, coagulated emotions, which again and again makes the viewer empathize and leaves no one indifferent. Oksana Gugis, Curator “Art Dom Gallery”
Vladimir Ryklin
RYKLIN FINE ART
REVIEWS
Downy Gallery
225 Canyon Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 87501
“Ryklin’s paintings reflect the long silenced messages stored deep within; not messages of malice or foreboding, but commentaries which celebrate the culture and people of Russia few westerners ever see.
The works are playful, filled with wonderment and activity, each a compendium of stories caught mid-sentenced. Ryklin’s vistas appear at first to be populated by numerous characters frozen in time, but further examination serves to reanimate them, each viewer supplying a unique ending to his vignettes. A dreamlike quality is evident, pixies busying themselves about the trapping of everyday life: sitting on the edge of the guitar, positioned beneath a crystal cage fashioned from an upturned wine glass, dancing on an airmail envelope.
Some unseen “full-size” human occupant may have succumbed to the power once inhabiting the vodka bottle, imagining, in an inebriated state, joyful circumstances and happy people. A parallel can be drawn to Ryklin’s life – the vodka, released from its confines, produces a more pleasurable existence, occupied by an endless array of interesting subjects; Ryklin released from his creative “prison” produces strikingly detailed worlds, infinite possibilities and thought provoking subjects.
Ryklin draws on traditional style of realism characteristics of the “old masters” – most notably 17th century avant-garde artists such as Bosch and Brueghel – to create surrealistic compositions reminiscent of Salvador Dali.
Allegorical scenarios are set in motion by myriad players telling stories of the artist’s creation, each based somehow in the reality of life as lived by Vladimir Ryklin. The concept of freedom is conveyed by a balloon under which is precautiously balanced a squat-bladed knife, a metaphor of the once prevalent Communist view of creative expression; take care to keep two separate.
Whether the subject is a character borrowed from literature or theater, history of art, or even conjured up from some undocumented corner of Ryklin’s own psyche, it is sure to inspire thought and puzzlement. Vladimir Ryklin paintings give us a place in which we can dream and explore while we contemplate the depth of his subconscious as well as our own.”
REVIEWS
Natasha Livit Gallery
art critic, New York City
“Vladimir Ryklin’s works are unique in that they unite the valuable lessons in realism from old masters, especially ‘avant-garde’ 17th century Flemish artists such as Bosch and Brueghel, with surrealistic composition of 20th century Salvador Dali. Though close affinities to the past can be noted in all his works, Ryklin’s own technical proficiency, combined with an incredible breadth of imagination and inner sentiments, produce art that strikingly stands apart from the all-too-familiar contemporary works“
