Merry Pushkin comes to Vitebsk

Vitebsk’s Centre of Contemporary Art showcases Igor Shaimardanov’s Merry Pushkin project – from the collection of the Mikhailovskoye State Museum-Reserve of Aleksandr Pushkin

According to the author's idea, the exhibition is something like a small fictional novel from Pushkin’s life. The artist has depicted fictional stories that, in his opinion, could have happened in reality with the great Russian poet during his two-year exile in Mikhailovskoye. He could have gone fishing there, met a mermaid on a moonlit night, and rushed down the mountain on a sled with a rosy-cheeked Russian beauty. No doubt, the poet walked in the park, feasted with friends, and – when attended by his muse – spent long winter evenings with his nanny.

The artist decided to show Pushkin as he was in everyday life – making him lively and cheerful, though still a great poet. The first series of works – Calico Pushkin – was ready in 2001. Its pictures feature the poet in the blooming meadows of Mikhailovskoye: while wandering through the surrounding fields, it meets a young lady among lilac bushes and a bunny under the falling snow of white calico peas.

Other series followed then: Mikhailovskoye Scratches, Pushkin Calendar, Pushkin and Arina R…

The Vitebsk exhibition presents 30 works from Igor Shaimardanov’s several series, and all are full of irony and kindness. They feature villagers’ daily routine and their life in harmony with nature – all that Aleksandr Pushkin loved.

When the artist came in Vitebsk, he immediately hurried across the Pushkin bridge to the poet’s monument. It’s quite possible that Igor Shaimardanov will once paint a new series: Pushkin and Vitebsk.