Alexander Petrov

Norton T. Dodge and Matthew Baigell, Alexander Petrov, New Brunswick, NJ: Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, 1994, illustrated

Oil on original canvas. The surface is very slightly dirty and there are a couple scratches and minor flakes of paint loss to the far outer edges. Overall the work appears in good state. Held in a modern wood frame. Unexamined out of frame.
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.

Known as a Hyperrealist when he lived in Russia, Alexander Petrov found inspiration in the paintings of seventeenth-century Dutch little masters as well as generations of Russian artists rather than in American Photorealism. His range of subject matter includes urban, landscape, and seaside scenes as well as still lifes and portraits. He is equally adept at capturing the colors and textures of the exterior surfaces of buildings as he is the swells of waves breaking on a shore or the subtle changes in a leaf. Petrov's ability to model his figures in the round, to suggest airy pockets of deep space, to enliven his surfaces with thickened brushstrokes, and to engage the viewer's feelings provide his work with an enduring physicality that permits us to call him a master of modern figurative art.

Even though he does not copy the slick look of a photograph's surface, he uses such typical Photorealist techniques as broken perspectives, mirrored images, and juxtaposed images from different spatial fields because, as he says, reflections in mirrors and on glass surfaces cast a magic spell over him. They have for him a reality of their own that warps, bends, and possibly obscures our own quotidian reality. They suggest to him multiple and purposefully indeterminate meanings that allow different emotional responses to a particular scene. In this regard, he has the uncanny ability to employ a straightforward realistic style to suggest the uncertainties that might exist in one's perception of human time, space, and memory.