< Artists
Slava Fokk
Artist Slava Fokk belongs to the younger generation of southern Russian painters who, in the space of two decades, have created an aesthetic phenomenon that stands out against the background of modern Russian art. The progress of these “Krasnodar painters” stems from their professional education and the availability of first-rate museum collections and exhibition spaces, which have made Krasnodar city a cultural center of southern Russia.
Slava slipped seamlessly into this movement by taking part in local and regional exhibitions in the early 2000s. His cooperation with “Zero” Moscow Gallery was particularly productive. At the International Festival of Arts organized by the gallery in 2007, Fokk was awarded first prize in the category of “Traditions and Time,” a prize which granted him the opportunity to hold several personal exhibitions in the United States between 2007-09.
Meanwhile, the young painter’s style has continued to develop. His painting is distinguished by a “smart retrospection,” an exacting selection of painting techniques that allows for the creation of technologically seamless and plastically expressive works. Slava evokes the origins of oil painting and the creative techniques of the old Dutch painters. He has not been subsumed by the modern painting process, which is often explicitly declarative and which carries certain anti-aesthetic, destructive qualities along with intentional technological imperfections. Through the creative reinterpretation of a great tradition, he has developed his own recognizable suite of painting techniques that work harmoniously in his paintings and are plastically expressive.
His works are distinguished by a refined aesthetic, and they do not succumb to the extremes of “Hyper-Realism,” such as expressive brutality and digital technologies. A certain flatness of general composition and a delicate scumbling design within each picture make for a subtle, nuanced image best exemplified in his portraits of women.
Since 2013, Slava has cooperated with a Dutch art gallery, which exhibited his paintings at leading art exhibitions in the Netherlands.
Now, Slava is living in the U.S. and painting a new series of works in a neoclassical manner, with a particular focus on women. Monumentalism and plasticity of classical art in combination with Modern Art stylistics, remain attractive for the artist.