Given the current interest in Russia I have posted two of Andrew's paintings which have a Russian theme.
Back in 2014, just before the Winter Olympics, Andrew went to Sochi to interview President Putin. I the down time between writing and interviewing Andrew spends his time drawing which helps him capture the people and places as well as impressions about events experienced. These drawings help Andrew recall those often brief moments more vividly when he paints.
Andrew's interview for The Andrew Marr Show (Sunday 0900-1000 BST on BBC One) with President Putin, available on YouTube, with the benefit of hindsight, is even more revealing now than when it was originally broadcast in 2014.
Two paintings were inspired by Andrew's visit to Russia, The Russian Meal (below) sold at the Hemmings & Marr Show at the Bermondsey Art Project in London in October 2017.
Further Reading:
Back in 2014, just before the Winter Olympics, Andrew went to Sochi to interview President Putin. I the down time between writing and interviewing Andrew spends his time drawing which helps him capture the people and places as well as impressions about events experienced. These drawings help Andrew recall those often brief moments more vividly when he paints.
Andrew's interview for The Andrew Marr Show (Sunday 0900-1000 BST on BBC One) with President Putin, available on YouTube, with the benefit of hindsight, is even more revealing now than when it was originally broadcast in 2014.
Two paintings were inspired by Andrew's visit to Russia, The Russian Meal (below) sold at the Hemmings & Marr Show at the Bermondsey Art Project in London in October 2017.
The Russian Meal, 60cm x 80cm, oil on canvas, painted November 2016
The second painting,The Russian Mother, references the Russo Byzantine style with its use of the seated mother figure adorned with the iconic halo around her head. This striking painting references the work of Russian Avant-Garde artists like Wassily Kandinsky and more recent work by Russian Abstract Art Foundation members like Vladislav Zubarev with the use of strong black lines and vibrant colour.
During his visit to Russia Andrew was struck by the deep rooted fascination Russians have for immortalising the Mother. This is deep rooted in Russian culture and goes back a long time throughout Russian history. For more about this read the article "How Things Matter" by Julia Chadago, Associate Professor of Russian Studies at at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA.
The Russian Mother, 61cm x 76cm, oil on canvas, painted in June 2015
Russia is an incredibly interesting and complicated country especially when it comes to art. In Russia: A 1,000-Year Chronicle of the Wild East
Martin Sixsmith writes in Chapter Twenty Nine "The arts have long been Russia's other world, a flourishing garden of creativity when political discourse was chocked by intolerant autocracy. They defied and triumphed over censorship and repression, offering Russians a better vision of themselves." When you look at the artists who flourished in the Russian Avant Garde Movement it's a formidable list.
Martin Sixsmith writes in Chapter Twenty Nine "The arts have long been Russia's other world, a flourishing garden of creativity when political discourse was chocked by intolerant autocracy. They defied and triumphed over censorship and repression, offering Russians a better vision of themselves." When you look at the artists who flourished in the Russian Avant Garde Movement it's a formidable list.
Martin Sixsmith also mentions that artists like "Kasimir Malevich and the Suprematists took painting into new regions in search of abstract geometric purity" but he also recalls that Lenin famously said 'I'm no good at art; art for me is just an appendage, and when its use as propaganda - which we need at the moment- is over, we'll cut it out as useless: snip snip.'
Another insightful book, Natasha's Dance by Orlando Figes, helped me understand how Russians think and why they chose to act like they often do. The book is a cultural history about art, literature, music, ethnography and religion and suggests that Russia has always had an identity crisis because it has always been torn between the European West and the Asiatic East. Add to this mix the effect of an aristocratic and cultured St Petersburg with the simplicity and unchanging nature of the provinces, then layer over all of that a veneer of Christianity over a pagan base and what you have is a very complicated soup of influences, passions, ideas, reasons and deep rooted beliefs many of which are conflicting. I loved this book but it was not an easy read but well worth the effort.
Andrew's History of the World, a door stop of a book but one which helps connect may of the dots, is a brilliant springboard to further reading about events in history which we are still feeling the effects of today. Given Russia's proximity to Europe, its size and span as a country, Russia has been at the heart of so much of world history because it was literally happening on one of its many borders. Referring to the book as a whole one reviewer on Amazon said "This is a well crafted journey thorough humanities existence to date".
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