Picturesque "House" by Andrew Chizhov: from plot to abstraction

We are in the artist's studio. The air is permeated with the persistent smell of oil paint. Zhadanov's "Malva" is playing from the speaker. There is a fresh painting on the easel. Massive layers of paint are skilfully put on the canvas with a palette knife. How many different textures and textures are there? Here is a glossy glassy gradient of red. And here is a jagged, prickly fragment of blue in whitewash. The whole pictorial structure of the painting is completely covered with contrasts of colour, mass, texture, and light. Finding yourself in front of Andrii Chyzhov's canvas, you involuntarily ask yourself: "How can one achieve such an extravaganza of colour with one construction trowel, two palette knives and a few tubes of paint?".

A first-rate colourist, he paints with temperament and pleasure, juicy and pasty. Objects, skilfully arranged on the canvases, acquire a special meaning, reveal the secrets of rhythm and proportional construction of the form. The expressive style of painting, the ability to successfully subordinate volumetric, spatial objects and dynamic forms to the plane evokes a strong emotional experience in the viewer.

Andrew Chizhov at work in the studio. Photo by 2021.

Andrew Chizhov was born in 1995 in Sevastopol. Since 2013 he has been living and working in Lviv. He received his professional education at the Lviv National Academy of Arts at the Department of Art Glass in the creative workshop of Andrii Bokotey. The artist has been awarded more than 90 awards for his creative work. He is an active participant of international (Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria, Germany, Israel, USA, Canada, Switzerland), regional and all-Ukrainian exhibitions, symposiums and plein airs, a member of the artistic association "ART-Module". The artist's works are kept in the collections of the Museum of Glass in Lviv, Ukraine; Ningbo Zhejiang Greenwave Glass Museum, China; Rusi Karabiberov Gallery, Bulgaria; Theologische Hochschule Friedensau, Germany; funds of the Lviv National Academy of Arts and private collections in Ukraine, Poland, Germany, France, USA, Canada, Turkey, Bulgaria and Israel.

In 2014, the artist faced the realities of the Russian-Ukrainian war. When Russia occupied Crimea, due to his principled civic position, the artist lost the opportunity to return to his hometown. Even then, a visual image of what he had lost for an indefinite period - his home - began to emerge in the artist's soul.  

Bright and charismatic, a true "soul of the company", as they say, Andrew Chizhov tries to create comfort in his life, and this is reflected in his work. The artist strives to show on the canvas the world, the environment in which he would like to be, to capture the feeling of comfort and harmony, to fill himself and the viewer with them. This desire is so close to each of us that it inevitably finds its echo in the soul of each viewer.

The artist's works can be divided into subject-realistic and conventionally abstract, in which individual outlines only hint at a particular subject. The artist is looking for harmony between colour and form, choosing a clearly defined object - a house.

Given the specifics of art history methodology, it is too early to periodise the work of a very young artist. However, we can already trace the change and development of the artist's creative style and, according to the way of interpreting the image, conditionally distinguish four stages in his work: ornamental and ethnographic, minimalist, subject-object, and abstract painting.

The first stage is characterised by the introduction of a small detailed ornamental stripe into the landscape composition, which is typical for the embroidery of a particular ethnographic region of Ukraine.

The second, minimalist stage is characterised by the composition based on the principle of contrasting masses and sizes. In the works of this cycle, we can see extensive conventionally interpreted landscape motifs and minimalist images of houses in the background or foreground. At this time, the house is only a glimpse of the artist's imagination, it is distant and unattainable. A typical example of a work from this series is the painting "Matilda Scared" (2019). We see a flat landscape, the semantic and compositional centre of which is a small house with a gable roof. The high point of view fills the picture with space. The horizon line is outlined by a smooth, ruler-like stripe. The question arises involuntarily: "Who is Matilda?". Fortunately, we can ask this question to the artist herself. It turns out that an accidental white spot, which is barely visible near the front wall of the house, turned into a cow named Matilda in the author's imagination, who was frightened by a sudden thunderclap and lowered her trembling head to the ground. The artist approaches the subject with humour and imagination. However, it is not the content that plays a decisive role in creating an artistic image, but the picturesqueness of the painting. Everything here is permeated with a riot of colour, richness of texture and texture. A gigantic, three-quarters of the canvas, resinous black mass of the sky is dotted with bright fragments of conventionally interpreted lightning, built from a whole set of gradient palette knife strokes. The light simply dazzles the viewer in contrast to the massive planes of darkness. The nuanced study of numerous fragments of the sky makes the vibration of the air environment visually perceptible.

Andrew Chizhov. Matilda Scared, 2019. Oil on canvas. 80 x 80 cm.

At the subject-object stage, the house already occupies a significant part of the pictorial plane, it is clearly outlined and detailed. The works of this period are marked by the cinematic nature of the image. An indicative work from this cycle is the painting "What do you think, Arvin?". The plot and the title of the painting were based on the remark of the film's protagonist about the life of a young family that had just bought an abandoned house, planned to move in and put it in order. The walls of the house are cracked, the windows have no panes, and everything around is dusty and dirty. The mother, holding her young son in her arms, asks, "How do you like our new home, Arvin?" Andrew Chizhov decided to help the young family - he restored the house on his canvas and filled it with life. Cosiness and tranquillity reign in the house. The gilded autumn nature sparkled with bright colours on the canvas. The richness and saturation of the paint, the richness of colour reflexes, the dynamics of strokes enhance the emotional content of the picture, convince of the reality of the sunlight.

Andrew Chizhov. What do you think, Arvin?, 2021 Oil on canvas. 75 x 80 cm.

The new, abstract and pictorial stage of the artist's work is characterised by a departure from the conventionally realistic interpretation of the image of the house. The artist focuses on solving formal and pictorial problems. The artist solves most of the picture plane abstractly, experimenting with texture, composition, and combination of paint fields. The house takes on a form that is generalised and interpreted conventionally. The painting "Hutsul winter" belongs to this cycle. In this work, the plot fades into the background. We see two Hutsul huts on a steep Carpathian hill. We see only generalised colour spots, successfully built on the contrast of light and dark. The dominant orange colour is complemented by green and ultramarine. Everything here is verified and balanced. The artist uses the technique of combining picturesqueness in the richly painted houses and the background landscape with the graphic nature of clearly drawn fence lines.

Andrew Chizhov. "Hutsul winter", 2022. Oil on canvas. 120 x 100 cm.

From subject matter to abstraction - these are the words that can describe the creative progress of Andrii Chyzhov. Without a shadow of a doubt, we note the artist's consistency in solving his painting tasks. Having defined the house as the central image of his work at this stage, he develops it in various forms and plastic solutions, using it as a means of conveying a sense of comfort and harmony. Taking a conditionally realistic interpretation of the subject as a basis, he moves towards abstraction, which he considers the crown of painting. "I'm trying to get rid of the author's dictatorship in painting," the artist says, "It seems to me that realistic painting drives the viewer into clearly defined boundaries, where he has no right to take a step either to the left or to the right. The artist himself defined the plot and explained it in great detail, or rather, showed what should be read and how. The story is over. The story is over. Instead, abstraction allows the viewer to breathe freely, to be close to the author, to become an accomplice in the creation of the image, to walk with him through the inner space of the artwork, to feel and live it on his own."  

Ivan Bilan

PhD in Art History,

Head of the Art Module art association