ARTVOICE ONLINEAndrey Muntz is and architect and an artist whose style is hard to be confused with anyone else’s. His bright and expressive manner of painting produces a special impression of energy and optimism.
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Apparently we often get confused by our perception of certain material objects so the aim of this series of articles is to explain a painting from the artist’s point of view.
Here we go…
The painting is called “Casanova’s breakfast”, it was created in 1995 by a famous Russian painter and architect Andrey Muntz.
It was one of my first paintings and I was scared then to paint in bright colors. Some time ago my friend painter from Israel, looking at my brighter paintings said “Ok, I see you had never attended any Art school!” Say, I am not against education, having being myself a teacher in the Architectural institute for over 46 years… And yes, some of my students are afraid of using free style, though we remember Matisse, who used clear colors without fear. The painting is also interesting as you can see Meganom on the background, I spent some years in Sudak and its suburbs…
During the 1960s and 1970s the western world experienced a major cultural change. It is usually described as a move from Modernism to Post-modernism. So what do we mean by Modernism and Post-modernism and what do we mean by a discipline? Such words have been described in many ways, so we can check out the descriptions of these and other words in the 1993 edition of The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (SOED).
Abstraction: ‘the act of taking away’. Abstract art: ‘art free representational qualities’. Here we need to make a distinction. On the one hand there is art that abstracts from nature but retains features of nature or objects; on the other hand there is abstraction that makes no use of natural objects, i.e. non-figural abstraction.
From Latin ‘ars, artis’, from a root meaning ‘put together, join, fit’, ‘skill as the result of knowledge and practice’.
Aristotle wrote in his Ethics:
‘Art is nothing more than a productive quality exercised in combination with true reason. The business of every art is to bring something into existence, and the practice of an art involves the study of how to bring into existence something which is capable of having such an existence and has its efficient cause in the maker and not in itself. This condition must be present, besause the arts are not concerned with things that come into existence from necessity or according to nature’.
We can observe art ‘in the special sense’ described by SOED as follows:
‘The application of skill according to aesthetic principles, especially in the production of visible works of imagination, imitation or design (paintings, sculpture, architecture, etc.); skilful execution of workmanship as an object in itself; the cultivation of the production of aesthetic objects in its principles, practices and results.’
‘The pioneering of innovative writers, artists, etc. in a particular period’ (SOED). It originally meant the vanguard of an army and did not emerge in its present form until the early 20th century.
The word ‘contemporary’ is derived ultimately from medieval Latin: contemporarius, which, in its turn, derives from classical Latin contemporaneous; ‘belonging to the same time, existing together in time, belonging to the same period’. These meanings both emerged in English in the 17th century and remain in current use today.
More or less seriously, I started doing graphics in 1989. There were several reasons for this. First, genetic: my grandfather, Oskar Rudolfovich Muntz and my father, Vladimir Oskarovich, were architects, my father’s sister was Natalya Oskarovna, my aunt was a book graphic artist. On the maternal side, on the Armenian side, there was also the famous artist Grigory Shiltyan, who lived all his life in Italy. (A large exhibition of his works was held in 1983 in the central halls of the Pushkin Museum). In addition, my sister Lena, a sculptor, has always painted and paints beautifully, and my sister Olya was a monumental artist.
At the age of five, not knowing anything about abstract art yet, having drawn some scribbles, I thought that this could be an interesting occupation. Apparently, I always had a craving for free improvisation, since I was seized by endless longing and sadness when, at the age of ten, I was sent to an art circle at the house of architects, where I had to draw dull teapots. I only managed to hold out for two lessons. Tennis seemed to me much more interesting. True, now the parallel between graphics, painting and tennis seems to me quite obvious. In the first case, the artist freely swings his brush, and in the second case, he freely waves the racket.
“Diversify as much as you can” – these words of Leonardo da Vinci, according to some art historians, can serve as a motto for the entire Renaissance. And in my work, due to my abilities, I try to follow this commandment. So, in addition to the etched stroke, I mastered the reserve (when sugar is added to the ink, I will omit the details so as not to tire the reader). Then I moved on to dry point, monotype, unique graphics and, finally, to painting, in which I also try to experiment with different techniques, canvases, soils and surfaces. In general, I believe that a real artist should have a lifelong experiment.
Recently I have been simultaneously engaged in graphics and painting. First of all, it’s more interesting, secondly, one thing helps the other, and thirdly, the border is, as always, blurred, because graphics can be pictorial, and painting, on the contrary, is graphic.
And one more observation related to my first profession. An architect designs buildings, putting his soul, heart and time into the process, but as a result, even the most famous architects, even Koolhaas’s level, ninety percent of projects are not implemented or are being implemented (especially in our conditions) with strong deviations from the project. An artist, on the other hand, in one or several days creates a picture that may not be liked by anyone, which may never be sold, but it exists, and exists as the author created it. If we talk about graphics and painting, it is believed that there are much more fans of painting, since graphics require a more prepared viewer.
The avant-garde as a phenomenon appeared in all spheres of art around the 1910s. You can name its main names and directions, but it is almost impossible to formulate common features. This is a whole system of styles, concepts, theories, languages, schools that penetrate each other.
Avant-garde in the visual arts can be understood as an experiment – with a concept, color, form. The Russian avant-garde in painting grew, of course, from Western painting trends: impressionism, post-impressionism and symbolism. The avant-garde movement did not form a single style, not a single school included the word “avant-garde” in its name, art critics did not use this term.
This movement, which emerged in 1905-1909, did not have a clear, definite program, proclaimed subjective sensations and subconscious impulses as the basis of artistic creativity. The artist translates his own emotions through his paintings.
Cubism is an avant-garde trend in the visual arts, primarily in painting, which originated at the beginning of the 20th century and is characterized by the use of emphatically geometrized conventional forms, the desire to “split” real objects into stereometric primitives.
The direction in abstract painting, which consists in a combination of the simplest colored geometric shapes (square, circle, triangle) and volumetric forms superimposed on a plane.
The key idea in understanding abstract art is in the approach itself. Do not try to distinct objects or guess what the artist wanted to say by the painting. Just look for some time and refer to your emotions!
Born 1954 in Moscow into the Muntz family of well-known artists and architects, Andrey has firmly established himself as leader of its third generation, working as an architect, a painter and a graphicist. He is a member of the Russian Architects Union, the International Federation of Artists and the Union of Russian Artists. Having been the winner of ten different architectural competitions, many of his designs may be seen in and around Moscow, such as the “Kopernik” and “Donskoye Podvorie” Apartment Houses, the Mechsherkoe Housing Estate, and various large country houses and villas in the periphery.
Andrey has participated in more than 50 exhibitions, both in Russia and abroad – especially in Poland, France and the USA. In all of these countries, his works may be may be found both in art galleries and in private collections. He teaches Architectural Design in the Moscow Architectural Institute, and teaches Drawing in the Moscow “Start” School of Architecture for Children.
Andrey Muntz produces paintings as well as drawings. His approach is always one of “free improvisation”. Being an architect, he is very conscious of the practical limitations governing structural art. That is why he values freedom so much in his painting and sketching, where an artist can express himself without needing to think about the laws of Physics and social compliance. He is especially fond of imaginative art, which does not have anything to do with the constraints of the real world.
Andrey Muntz’s painting is considered to continue the great tradition of the Russian avant-garde: Abstract Expressionism. He believes the expression of emotions to be the most important purpose of art, and he attaches special value to expression through experiment and improvisation. His pictures provoke many different interpretations, and in them people often see very different things. Andrey thus entices his audience into his own artistic world. Although his pictures may consist of numerous small details, apparently placed at random, the observer still perceives the image of the whole thing.
Andrey takes the same approach in both his painting and drawing, involving free improvisation, open expression of feelings and brightness of colors. He considers color to be the strongest means of expression, using it freely and without being afraid of clashing combinations, reserving the use of black paint to give strength and depth to his palette.
There is no single theme to be found in the works of Andrey Muntz. “My conception of art is rather the lack of any single conception – I can do anything I like, whatever comes into my head, and I always try to be completely open to new ideas,” says the artist. He experiments in all directions over the fields of pure abstraction, aiming at a strong emotional impact, combined with images of the real would. He likes to experiment with different techniques, painting in oils and acrylic, sometimes in combination with pastel, on canvas, on cardboard, or even on iron. But he is also fond of the more traditional graphical techniques, sometimes using etching, dry-point, water-color and charcoal. Such methods are not so frequently found nowadays, because they require long, expert training.
Lear more on the artist’s page Andrey Muntz – ARTVOICE ONLINE