The painting career of Russian artist Sergey Fedotov continues to draw both critical acclaim and record sales around the world, and examples of his unusual painting style will be on view at three respected American venues during the month of January. Mr. Fedotov began painting after a successful career as a physicist, and as his love of contemporary art and natural inquisitiveness about developing a novel style began to take over as a priority in his life, he abandoned other pursuits to devote his life to painting full time. His devotion to exploring textured surface energy coupled with oblique references to narrative subject matter has brought a great deal of attention to his new series of work, as evidenced in the art critic Bruce Helander’s encouraging review in The Huffington Post, which drew thousands of views from readers. Mr. Helander observed: “Influenced by the emotional experiences and lasting impressions of visual harmony, the artist applied his ambitious appetite for experimentation and intellectual curiosity from his other disciplines directly to finding his own idiosyncratic voice on a canvas surface…
A careful and critical examination of Mr. Fedotov’s vigorous paintings shows a sharp perspective and an awareness of many of the major players in the history of developmental contemporary art, and, perhaps more importantly, the suspicion that the artist, who grew up in relative isolation from the major art centers of the world, also was creating a style that was not an off-shoot of another or a conscience decision to follow the stylistic lead of others, but stemmed from a genesis of intuitive talent and a burning desire to express oneself in a completely unique manner. Even without a complete perspective on individual artists who share at arm’s length some of the stylistic personalities and categorical elements of certain movements or, in particular, a link to an elusive spirited flavor by established artists like Dubuffet, Modigliani, Gauguin, Gerhard Richter or Philip Guston (his early works), Fedotov has created his own secure world of spinning and often dreamlike sequences that naturally ebb and flow like the ocean’s natural tide.”
The new series on view this month demonstrates the uncanny ability of the artist to continue producing colorful canvases that support a swirling textural surface, bringing to mind early abstract expressionist artists such as Jackson Pollock and William de Kooning and color field masters like Helen Frankenthaler, combined inventively with abstract painters such as Van Gogh and Picasso. The unforgettable result of this novel recipe is a work of art that explores historical references, schools of artistic theory, classic landscapes, thick textural surfaces and classic narrative scenes that have been camouflaged by over painting and embellishments. The magic of the works is that the viewer needs to develop a dialog with the painting by investigating all aspects of imagery and design until eventually an attachment is made to a subject or object that becomes recognizable as in a tree or a figure of a woman. There is also a consistency of repetitive and deliberately naive style that is comfortable to recognize when the works are hung and presented as a series. Fedotov will start the first exhibition of the New Year in Miami on the SeaFair floating art fair venue that brings contemporary art to ports around the world. Opening on January 18-21, 2013 for the 4th edition of Miami International Art Fair, MIA 2013 will commence aboard this luxurious vessel in port at the Intercontinental Hotel Dock. SeaFair is the world's first mobile art megayacht venue and one of the ten largest privately owned yachts in the United States.
The second venue is at the renowned LA Art Show presented at the centrally located Los Angeles Convention Center; this fair is the largest and longest running art fair on the west coast of America. More than 100 select exhibitors with be on display Thursday, January 24 through Sunday, January 27, 2013. The LA Art Fair prides itself on offering innovative artists through leading galleries that attract some of the most important collectors of contemporary art. Fedotov will also open with a group show at the inaugural exhibition of Arthouse 429 in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he will exhibit new works with such well-known artists as Robert Zakanitch, Cameron Gray, Bruce Helander, Edwina Sandys and John Martini. A catalog accompanies the exhibition, which opens on January 17.