Alexander Ewgraf
Alexander Ewgraf , born Alexander Rykov (* 1961 in Kaćug near Irkutsk , Siberia ) is a Russian-German painter and installation artist. He belongs to the group of the Russian avant-garde, who after glasnost endeavor to renew gestural-abstract painting and sculpture.
Life
Alexander Evgraf grew up near Lake Baikal . After his military service in the Soviet Air Force , he studied art history and applied arts at the University of Irkutsk. At the age of 25 he became head of the Irkutsk City Museum and from 1986 to 1988 organized exhibitions on national and socialist themes.
In 1989, after perestroika , he was one of the first private entrepreneurs in the region to successfully set up a label for fashion design. In 1990 he finally moved to the West and began his artistic path anew, not as a painter of social realism, but in the “freedom” of abstract painting. During this time he took on orders and a. for hosting the theater festival in Bad Hersfeld and the Kammerspiele in Munich.
In 2007 he founded the non-profit German-Croatian association Sculpture Park Šipan eV with the aim of organizing international sculpture symposia on the Croatian island of Šipan .
Ewgraf has lived and worked in the Upper Bavarian village of Eresing in the Landsberg am Lech district since 2004 .
Artistic creation
The colors are mixed with oil from pigments, the surfaces are carefully white primed plywood panels mounted on sturdy wooden frames. The picture carrier is first placed on the floor and the first layer of liquid paint is applied with broad brushes and floor wipers. Ewgraf calls it the “critical mass” he needs as a starting point. It is a transparent layer, a diaphanous skin without structures, permeable to thoughts, memories and foreshadows that are gradually brought to life. The finishing takes place on the easel. The surface is compacted, layers are laid on top of one another and then scraped off again. A work process from the banner to the celebration, an artistic ritual that Ewgraf describes as an “easy birth without great labor pains”. Individual mythologies arise that reach into the past with fine threads and arouse curiosity about cultures that lie outside our horizon. The latest works deal with minimalist spatial bodies.
Scholarships
Studio funding from the Bavarian Culture Fund
Public purchases
Bavarian State Painting Collection
Exhibitions
Solo exhibitions
- 1997 Art Forum Arabellapark , Munich
- 1999 Moutier Gallery, Munich
- 2000 Espace Vendôme Gallery, Cannes
- 2001 Original Gallery, Nice
- 2002 Kunstverein Südpfalz, Bad Bergzabern
- 2003 Galerie Prom, Munich
- 2005 Column hall, Landsberg am Lech
Group exhibitions (selection)
- 1991 Gallery Russischer Hof, Munich
- 1998 Art Forum Münchner-Freiheit
- 2003 GKA, House of Art, Munich
- 2004 GKA, House of Art, Munich
- 2007 GKA, House of Art, Munich
- 2007 “Vis-à-vis” with Karl Witti in Eresing
- 2008 «Vis-à-vis» with Robert Motherwell, Sigmar Polke, Bernd Zimmer, Karl Witti and Tobias Krug
- 2009 Nord Art, Büdelsdorf
- 2009 City Gallery, Liberec Czech Republic
- 2009 «Vis-à-vis» The background as the foreground - the fascination of the detail
- with Albrecht Dürer, AR Penck, Eberhard Havekost, Karl Witti and Tobias Krug
literature
- Ewgraf painting & drawing , with a greeting from Dr. Thomas Goppel, Bavarian State Minister for Science and Art, with texts by Helmut Kästl and Christian Burchard, St. Ottilien 2006, ISBN 3-8306-9505-5
- Kürschner's Handbook of Fine Artists , KG Saur Verlag, 2005
Web links
- Internet presence of the artist http://www.ewgraf.com
- Entry in the Bavarian Professional Association of Visual Artists http://www.bbk-bayern.de
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Evgraf, Alexander |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Rykov, Alexander (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Russian-German painter and installation artist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1961 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kaćug near Irkutsk , Siberia |