– In addition to the world space, there is a small space of graphic artists, – Irina Oskina, the curator of the triennial, Honored Artist of Russia, outlined the parallels. – All of them are mobile, contact, friendly with each other, so exhibitions are held all over the world.
The works of artists from Belarus were not lost in this brilliant collection. A short tour of the exhibition was conducted by a member of the triennial jury, a graphic artist, a teacher of the Belarusian State Academy of Arts.
…Here are two works by the Minsk resident Marina Moroz – “The uneaten Bread of those who are hungry” and “The Inexhaustible Drink of those who are thirsty for life”, which make up a kind of diptych both on the topic and on the technique of performance-mezzo-tinto. They attract attention, make you look into details – grapes and bread, a magnifying glass and fast-moving fish, a sudden flicker of golden highlights.
– Marina is my former student, – Roman Sustov says with pride. – Her technique-a combination of smoothing and etching – is not often found, as it is difficult to perform, but it adds grace, complicates the detailing.
Fyodor Shurmelev’s etchings are dedicated to the subjects of Greek mythology.
– Also my former student, and now a colleague at the Academy, – Sustov is proud. – He is engaged in a rare book, ex-libris.
We consider the works of Yevgenia Timoshenko and Vladislav Kvartalny, Marina Zhvirblya, Svetlana Volosyuk…
– Are young artists not afraid that the art of book graphics will become a thing of the past along with a paper book?
– They have been scaring us with this for twenty years, – Roman Sustov is not surprised at the question. “But the paper book is still alive. We, artists, even see the reverse process: experts appreciate a living drawing, the master’s hand, his signature.
– Do they know Belarusian charts in the world?
– Of course. The Belarusian School of graphics is one of the strongest in the post – Soviet space. We are, one might say, “mestizos”, the influence of the Russian traditional school and the European avant-garde is mixed in us, we take a lot from both Russia and Europe – but we have our own face.
By the decision of the international jury, two authors from Belarus, Marina Moroz and Fyodor Shurmelev, became diploma holders of the International Triennial of Ex-Libris and Small-format Printed Graphics.
