Valery Metik. Painting Exhibition

In the halls of the Museum and Exhibition Center "Petersburg Artist" there is an exhibition of paintings and drawings by Valery Metik.

The artist is best known for his portraits of historical figures, scientists, BDT actors, Mstislav Rostropovich and ceremonial portraits of Galina Vishnevskaya. Many artists signed their portraits with autographs as a sign of appreciation. The second area of creativity is the design of exhibitions and the creation of dioramas for museums throughout the country.

Valery Alexandrovich's work was greatly influenced by the theatrical atmosphere, into which he plunged thanks to the proximity of the Leningrad workshop to the BDT and the dormitory of the theater institute.

In the mid-1970s, Valery Metik combined work on the creation of a diorama for the Museum of Police in Leningrad and work at the BDT. This is how a series of portraits of actors Yefim Kopelyan, Vadim Medvedev, Evgeny Lebedev, Oleg Borisov, Valery Karavaev, Nikolai Trofimov, Vladislav Strzhelchik, directors Georgy Tovstonogov, Yuri Tomoshevsky and others appeared.

The heroes of his paintings - actors, directors, musicians - are, above all, outstanding people. He is interested in the special incomprehensible creative will that they possess. One of these heroes is the actor Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Lebedev. The exhibition contains several portraits of the famous artist. Valery Metik has always been interested in people who exist as if on the verge of being. In a sense, gifted actors are able to overcome this line, using the mechanism of reincarnation, entering the role. The moment of separation from reality interests the artist most of all. This, in turn, is the creative method of the artist himself. Having acquired a special state of mind, he manages to fulfill the conceived work and fill it with the meaning that is necessary.

Interesting are small sketches, written during travels in Italy, Greece, France, in the Crimea. Many works of Valery Alexandrovich are original artistic variations. In dialogue with the old masters, he feels truly free. At the same time, being carried away by different manners and styles, he releases completely different aesthetic qualities inherent only to his creative personality. Metic is characterized by passion and dedication in the search for his own. For example, in small sketches from nature with a repeating motif - a tree on the seashore, a rock, or a lonely house - the subject of the image from a visual object becomes a deep experience. In such works, the artist's ability to acutely feel the "state" is exposed, the ability to immerse himself in it and catch every moment of it.

The works collected at the exhibition are only one facet of the artist's work. He does not neglect any experience, he is interested in everything related to the shape, color, fixation of the environment. Sometimes he uses materials outside of the painting. He created a series of objects, collages, in which outlandish contours, unexpected objects and configurations appear.

The artist is constantly striving for plastic experiments. Sometimes he creates whole series of works, depicts familiar motives, but at the same time gives them new meaning and meaning. You can get closer to understanding his work, to the essence of his works, only by learning a little about the properties of his nature: a bright attitude towards life, the ability to find beauty in everyday things. The extremes that are inherent in his character are manifested in bold stylizations and experiments, and his love for people, his humor, his interest in different aspects of life make it possible to discern the poetry of simple things and establish contact with the beauty of the world.