Mikhail Brusilovsky. Labyrinths of time

The Erarta Museum presents the first exhibition in St. Petersburg by Misha Shaevich Brusilovsky, one of the most prominent Russian artists of the second half of the 20th century.

Mikhail Brusilovsky (1931–2016) is an iconic figure of Ural art. Born in Kiev, Misha first appeared in the Urals, in evacuation, as a child. After graduating from the Academy of Arts in Leningrad, he was assigned to Sverdlovsk, where he lived and worked - with breaks in Paris and New York - for more than fifty years. The name of Misha Shaevich is associated with the revitalization and renewal of the creative atmosphere of Sverdlovsk - Yekaterinburg: together with his friends he made a "Brusilov breakthrough" in local artistic life, and the author's circle of friends quickly became the center of creative thought and aesthetic experiment.

Among the sixties, Brusilovsky is a special artist: stylistically recognizable, able to transform everyday life into a parable, and a fact of history into a global myth. Among the themes close to the author are the turbulent history of the twentieth century, biblical subjects, ancient myths and pictures of everyday life, seen from the depths of time. In the ordinary, he was able to find eternal plots. If we judge the artist by his paintings, where the past, present and future converge in strange authenticity, then Brusilovsky is a talented stalker in the loops and labyrinths of Time. The exhibition in the Erarta Museum is just about how creativity transforms routine into a sublime legend, into a parable.

Misha Shaevich is one of the few Russian artists of the second half of the twentieth century who received recognition abroad. His work "1918" was shown at the Venice Biennale in 1966, and in 1989 a personal exhibition of the author was held in Paris with great success. In connection with it, the French press mentioned the name of Brusilovsky on a par with such Russian artists as Ilya Kabakov and Erik Bulatov. Recognition awaited him at home. In 1986, the ban on Brusilovsky was lifted, his exhibitions are held in Yekaterinburg and Moscow. The artist becomes a laureate of the prize "For Outstanding Achievements in Literature and Art", receives the title of Honored Artist of Russia and Honorary Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts.

Until now, the work of Mikhail Brusilovsky could be seen in Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Perm, Moscow, Paris, London, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Berlin, Venice. And now the opportunity to get to know them better has appeared for the citizens of St. Petersburg.