Lot 274
  • 274

Timur Novikov

Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 USD
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Description

  • Timur Novikov
  • Silver Age, 1989
  • signed in Cyrillic and dated 1989 (lower left)
  • acrylic on textile

  • 45 1/2 by 42 in.
  • 115.5 by 107 cm

Provenance

Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner

Literature

Tatiana Yurieva (ed.), Nash Dar, Saint Petersburg, 2007,  p. 43 illustrated

Condition

Acrylic on textile. The fabric gathers at a few points and there is a small white mark in the upper center area. There are four pinholes, one in each corner. There is also a very minor small hole to the left of the center tree. The fabric is wrinkled.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

During the mid-1970s, Timur Novikov joined the nonconformist artists' group Letopis' (Chronicles), and became a regular participant in various underground exhibitions. In 1982, together with the artist Ivan Sotnikov, he formed his own group, the New Artists, which collaborated with the Leningrad Rock Club. In the late 1980s, he developed a style that became known as "Neo-Academism."

Textiles are an integral component of many of Novikov's works. He uses fabrics of various patterns and textures, on which he either paints, stencils, or applies collage. The St. Petersburg art critic Victor Mazin has described Novikov's work as "textural minimalism that is related to Kazimir Malevich's Black Square." Stylistically, Novikov's works feature elements similar to those of New Image Painting, the work of an informal grouping of painters in the United States in the late 1970s associated with an expressive figurative style and the resurgence of the medium of painting.

Novikov recalled that after finishing the fourth grade, he moved with his mother to the far north—to the island of Novaya Zemlya in the Arctic Ocean. It was there that the artist "fell in love with the horizontal perspectives, far-off distances, and small objects" so frequently found in his works. The quiet elegance and minimalist nature of his work is also rooted in his belief that the recent technological developments in computerization, the proliferation of mass media through global satellite networks, and the burgeoning number of art magazines have all contributed to an immense overload of visual information. The strength of his works lies in its reductive clarity and accessibility.