Andrej Vystropov "In Studio" 100x90 cm, 1997  Andrej Vystropov "Shoe Maker" 100x120 cm, 1989  Andrej Vystropov "Woman and Birds" 70x60 cm, 1993  Andrej Vystropov "Pagannini" 100x90 cm, 1993  Andrej Vystropov "Childhood of Maria" 50x60 cm, 1993 |
Essay by Piotr Letvinsky Honored painter of Russia, Professor of the V.I. Surikov Insitute, Moscow Andrej Vystropov's paintings are dreams, full of symbols and archetypes. They evoke a world where everything is enigmatic and significant, where one finds what one is searching for. Behind the banal reality of a canvas coated with paint, another dimension emerges, bringing up its specific logic of events, its invariably different dramatic perspective. However, given the artist's poly-semantic metaphor of his subjects, their disquieting dramatic tension is always balanced with a strict counterpoise of unmistakable composition, unquestionable perfection of the artist's brush and his artistic taste. Andrej Vystropov's paintings attract your attention again and again, and each new viewing of them results in a new detail or unusual shade discovered, in a new, unexpected echo of your heart, in another deep and significant revelation. They are always the same and they are always different. They are like a miraculous resonator, responding to every trembling of your soul. Vystropov's artistic formation was impetuous and successful, largely due to fortunate circumstances: the wealth of art and intellectual atmosphere of St. Petersburg, where he studied, the century-long tradition of the Academy of Art, and the studio of the famous Russian painter, E.E. Moiseenko, where he mastered drawing. The remarkable wealth of St. Petersburg's art museums provided the conditions for a profound and fruitful experience of world art, from the classic up to the avant-garde. There, Vystropov perfected his technical skills and adopted the spiritual experience of great artists. In 1987 Vystropov's graduate work, a painting entitled "Widows", was recognized as the best graduate work in the USSR. A year later, this picture was shown in New York at the exhibition "Best Student's Works of the USSR Academy of Art at the New York Academy of Art". In 1989, Vystropov joined the Union of Artists of the former USSR, thus having overcome a very important hurdle of an official artistic career by the age of 28. By this time, his artistic style finally defined as symbolic neo-romanticism. Speaking philosophically, the characteristic feature of Vystropov's works is his attempt to comprehend the essence of events.
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