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1 27 July 1942: birth of Mikhail (Misha)
Dorokhov in the hall of a house in Tverskay-
Yamskay street, Moscow. The Second World War is raging, and
the curfew starts at 8 pm.
2 At the age of 5, he finds himself in the
Filatov children's hospital, having mistaken bleach for drinking
water. His father brings him a box of coloured pencils and
a small drawing pad, on the cover of which there is a picture
of Spartacus. Since then, Misha has been wedded to art.
3 While out playing, he discovers the children's
art school in Sadovay street, and winds up with a pencil in
his hand, taking part in a drawing lesson. When he's finished
his picture, he gets a kiss from the director of the school.
It's the start of his artistic education. He takes first prize
in a children's art competition organized by the Indian government.
4 At the age of 13, unknown to his parents,
he passes the Moscow intermediate art school's exam, with
a view to entering the Surikov institute (the USSR's central
art school), opposite the Tretyakov gallery, though the competition's
stiff: there are 20 applicants for every place, and children
of famous Soviet artists take precedence. Other children are
brought to the intermediate art school by their parents, their
pockets stuffed with sandwiches and sharp pencils. Misha arrives
on his own, without having said anything to his parents -
swapping his former school for this one, far from home, would
have caused them big financial problems.
5 In 1962, he graduates from the Moscow intermediate
art school with a first-class degree, thus gaining admission
to the Surikov institute, the crucible of Soviet art, without
having to take the entrance exam.
6 His artistic and philosophical positions
are in stark contrast to Soviet art and Communist ideology.
He is interested in icons, Impressionism, Kandinsky and Constructivism.
1966-1999: research, experimentation, philosophy, abstract
animation films, as author, producer, director, script writer
and artist.
7 His pressing need to support himself and
his family compels him to forego a place at the Surikov institute,
and go for the Moscow Polygraph Institute's qualification,
which allows him to work as an artist, illustrator and designer,
or to working freelance.
8 1977: Misha is elected a member of the
Soviet Art Union, which among other things carries the privilege
of being able to buy art materials that can't be found in
ordinary shops. It also means being allocated a subsidized
studio, and getting to spend a month or 2 in an artist's dacha,
with a full catering service laid on. This gives him an opportunity
to exchange ideas with other artists.
9 1988-1999: he lives and works in
England. His preconception of England as an ideal society
in which he can fulfill himself as an artist, and where art
is loved, understood and easy to sell, turn out to be something
of an illusion. Since then, he has been living and working
in France's Dordogne region, where he feels independent and
free. |
EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS
1977 Elected member of the U.S.S.R. Union
of Artists
1966-72 Moscow Polegraphic Institute( as a designer and illustrator
of books)
1956-62 Special Art School attached to Surikov Institute,
Moscow.
A-levels: Painting(A) Drawing(A) Composition(A)
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
1995 London. Multi media Presentations Limited,
artist for a CD-ROM production
on Russian fairy tales.
1990 to the present Fine art painter.
1990-1962 As a designer and illustrator of books.
EXHIBITIONS
2006 ART EXPO. Sourzac, Le Piqeonner. France.
2004-2005 Modern Art Gallery, Brontom, France.
2003 Art Diffusion, Poitiers, France.
1996 Fine Art Center Edelman Gallery, New-York. USA
1995 Modern Art Gallery, Saint-Antonio, USA
Rosenbaum Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA
1994 Art Expo, Las Vegas. Group exhibition, Santa Dere, Spain.
Group exhibition, Brutton Street Gallery, London, UK
1993 Group exhibition, Brutton Street Gallery, London, UK
1992 Group exhibition, Brutton Street Gallery, London, UK
1990 One-man show at Camden Gallery, London, UK
1990 Royl Academy of Art (Spring Exhibitions). London, UK
1989 Group exhibition in Paris, France
Group exhibition in Australia
1988 Group exhibition in Italy
Group exhibition in Switzerland
1985 Group exhibition at Miro& Spizman Gallery, London,
UK
1983 Group exhibition at Morley Gallery, London, UK
1976 Exhibition «House of Scientist». Moscow,
Russia
1976. Poster design by M. Dorokhov for the exhibition «House of Scientist». Moscow,
Russia
MUSEUMS AND COLLECTIONS
National Tretiakovskaya Gallery, Moscow
National Museum of A.Akhmatova, St.Petersburg
The «Other Art» museum of the Russian State University
for Humanities is dedicated to the unofficial
Russian art of 1950-1970. In 1976 the Ministry of Culture
of the USSR registered the Leonid Talochrin's collection as
an"All-Union Cultural Monument came to be known as «non-conformism»
Private collections: Russia, England, France, Spain. USA,
world-wide.
PUBLICATIONS
2001 Illustrative Dictionary of Russian Art
Encyclopedia of Word ART, Moscow
1997 Art in USA, Publishing, Saint-Antonio, USA
1994 The Art Book94 (Pinkbarge) M.P.L. London UK
1993 a Stranger to Heaven and Earth, Shambhala, Boston, USA
1993 a Stranger to Heaven and Earth, Shambhala, London, UK
1992 Gruppa Dvizhenie, V.Klechuk, Moscow, U.S.S.R
1991 the Ladders of Mikhael Dorokhov, Sputnik Moscow U.S.S.R
1990 Fragility of Aspiration Ham.High.London, UK
1987 Artist Mikhael Dorokhov co-operating Znanie. U.S.S.R
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Mikhail Dorokhov is very much an artist's
artist.The product of a long and specialised art training,
he has a strong technique, coupled with the unruffled, logical
thinking of the Russian"intelligent".He also has
a contemplative,poetic side. For the Western public,what is
encouraging about MIKHAIL DOROKHOV'S work is neither tawdry
nor selfindulgent,but muted and controlled. On the face of
it,DOROKHOV'S chronology proclaims a party-line artist. A
former member of the USSR Union of Artist,in 1988 he took
part in a prestigious national competition to illustrate the
centenary edition of Anna Akhmatova's collected poems.But
to illustrate Anna Akhmatova faithfully,an artist,by definition,cannot
be dogmatic,bigoted or meretricious.He must be anarchic, spiritual,and
intensely Russian.Russian-ness has became a cliche in commercial
circles.At its best,however,it is neither bogus nor obscurantst.It
is often nostalgic, though;and DOROKHOV'S work is no exception.
However,this artist has managed to transcend the fetters of
nationality.He belongs to a new tradition of itinerant artists
from Russia,independent and westernised,divorced,not without
pain,from their homeland. DOROKHOV'S oils at BRUTTON STREET
GALLERIES are,to an extent,a development from an earlier series,but
with a wider application.His first London oil series was aabout
the struggie for a new RUSSIA,attended by wholesale destruction
of the old order,leaving only the gaping chasm of moral bankruptcy.IN
these paintings,MIKHAIL DOROKHOV sought to give his fellow
Russians,on the verge of spiritual collaps,hope,a way out
of the grimy chaos of a demolition site into a world of light.He
did it by juxtaposing ladders and Orthodox churches,thus adding
a geometrical dimension to his compositions. His new series
explores the emptiness the of the western world,symbolised
by dressmakers'dummies in shop windows. Irresistibly drawn
by their structural qualities,he creates semi-abstract compositions,at
the same time exploring texture, through sensitive mastery
of pastel and oil media. MIKHAIL DOROKHOV'S works exude a
power and a mystery which proclaim an artist of universal
significance.
HAM. HIGH. LONDON. UK
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Михаил Дорохов это яркий пример художника
для художников. Его творчество-продукт долгого и вдумчивого
изучения искусства. Это, с одной стороны,бесконечно конструктирующий
русский интеллигент, а с другой-созерцатель и поэт. Для западной
публики, которой интересно его творчество, это своеобразное
противопоставление внутреннего покоя крику. Хронология жизненных
и творческих событий лишь отчасти показывают его путь художника.
Будучи членом Союза художников СССР, он выигрывает престижный
на Западе конкурс на издание иллюстрированных поэм Анны Ахматовой.В
этих иллюстрациях и художественная точность, и фанатическая
приверженность поэзии Ахматовой, и духовный анархизм, и, в
то же время, настоящая любовь к отечеству, а не клише "русскости"
для коммерческой среды. Не без боли относясь к проблемам своего
отечества, художник, тем не менее, выходит за пределы основ
национальности, и, тем самым, принадлежит к художникам новой
традиции. В его первых лондонских сериях маслом чувствуются
и попытки преодолеть правила старых команд, и поиск новых
путей из мрачного хаоса в сторону света. Это видно и в работах
с лестницами, и в работах с православными храмами,где геометричность
изображения прибавляет новое измерение к его композициям.
Его новые серии на выставке в галлерее на "BRUTTON STREET"
в известной степени вытекает из предыдущих, но уже с более
широким обзором.Манекены в витринах магазинов, как бы взрывают
пустоты западного мира. Структурное качество полуабстрактных
композиций,мастерские пастели и масляная смешанная техника
привлекают зрителя, и приближают к нему. Работы МИХАИЛА ДОРОХОВА
отличаются силой и мастерством, что провозглашает его поистине
художником универсального значения.
HAM. HIGH. LONDON. UK
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