Alexander Kedrin

Life as a Creative Process

I was born and grew up in Uzbekistan. My father, Veniamin Kedrin, an artist and a poet, was brought from St. Petersburg to Tashkent, Uzbekistan by the whim of fate. He was my mentor. Kandinsky and Miro are also artists whose influences affected my style, which I have developed throughout my career as an artist. In 1959 I visited an exhibition of American artists in Moscow; there, the works of Calder, Tanguy and Pollack left a lasting impression on my creative search. Perhaps it was at that moment that I began to dream of going to the United States--the country of freedom, founded on the principles of the Bible, democracy and human rights. During the Soviet regime it was impossible for me to visit America even as a tourist.

Only 36 years after the exhibition did I have the chance to fulfill this dream. I have been living in New York since 1995 and have been pleasantly astounded by the libraries and museums of this unique city and by its cultural potential. Nevertheless, being a man who believes in God, I was and still continue to be saddened by the overabundance of commercialism and prostitution of art in the city. While I perceive humanism as acting as a culture of creative personality, such pathologic tendencies in New York seem to me anti-humanistic, in essence an expansion of anti-cultural revolutionary thought. Though this problem is seen all over the world, the most vivid example is New York. Virtuous principles of freedom are turned into freedom from responsibility. Then the greater role and responsibility falls on the artist's shoulder. Art is not only the means of survival for the artist and a tool to entertain the viewer, but it is also an ongoing creative process to improve both the artist and the viewer. Let us be thankful to God!

These days an artist cannot survive solely by producing his art. Rather, he must become a product of the uncontrolled urbanism and industrialization that define our time, that have in a way diseased the minds of society. Though the art business world was created as a mechanism for protecting and nurturing artists, it has become a controlling agency over artists. This produces consequences on the art that is subsequently created and on members of society, in effect deforming society. Bad art is not just bad art, it is also poisonous.

It is unfortunate that the world of art does not receive the same reaction from society as would happen if there were an environmental disaster. A recent example is the art that appears in the Whitney Museum--society enthusiastically and happily continues to poison itself with poor quality products, by naively considering monstrosities as fine art. I am not proposing to start a reform or give any recommendations, for that is relegated to the realm of sociologists and others.

I see my mission as an artist as sharing my emotional experiences and reflections in search of the truth. Nevertheless, there are more questions than answers here. The antagonism between good and evil, light and darkness, love and deception- these are the issues that worry me. I am looking for the answer to the question: why does a person, who comes to this world in order to obtain happiness, suffer deeply without ever realizing his dreams? The other issue of my preoccupation is the deformation of conscience and as a result of it, degradation of personality.

Man is kind and generous, but why he is choosing the wrong ways? I am convinced that the cause of it is always the spiritual and moral position of the person. The famous Russian physicist Peter Kapitza commented on this very subtly: "Man can learn to be happy in any situation; he only becomes unhappy after he bargains with his consciousness." The specifics of a scientist with the figurative precision of a poet!

Indeed, neither physical, chemical, nor biological aspects are sufficient to picture the facts of life, not to mention the facts of thinking. The perception of the world, restricted by the frames of space and time, is unable to penetrate into the initial cause of occurences, because it cannot be bound by these frames. I am not imitating the visible world. My canvases are not illustrations, puzzles, allegories or deifications - they are my thoughts about the motivations of a person's actions and ideas. It is an attempt to reach beyond the immediate, to reflect the mysticism of events, occurrences, phenomena, the enigma of life itself and the human being in all the complexities of his personality. I am interested in the spiritual essence of man and events which I try to convey in my works. I would define my style as meta-realism and would very much like to be heard through my paintings.

Alexander Kedrin

  SOLO EXHIBITIONS - PAINTINGS: 2013- Moscow, Russia ("The Formula of the Universe", A3 Gallery) 2011- New York, USA ("Poetry in Art - Alexander Kedrin", Angel Orensanz Foundation) 2007- New York, USA ("Synergetic Cavalcades", Amsterdam Whitney Gallery) 2002- New York, USA ("Russian Evenings in Manhattan - Alexander Kedrin", SDA Church) 1999- Montreal, Canada ("The Paintings of Alexander Kedrin", Vand-Art Gallery) 1997- New York, USA ("The Paintings of Alexander Kedrin", Orange Bear Club) 1990- Tashkent, Uzbekistan ("The Paintings of Alexander Kedrin", Artist's Union) SOLO EXHIBITIONS - CERAMICS: 1986- Magdeburg, Germany ("The Society for German-Soviet Friendship / Gesellschaft für Deutsch-Sowjetische Freundschaft") 1985- Berlin, Germany ("The Society for German-Soviet Friendship / Gesellschaft für Deutsch-Sowjetische Freundschaft") 1985- Halle, Germany ("The Society for German-Soviet Friendship / Gesellschaft für Deutsch-Sowjetische Freundschaft"). 1983- St. Petersburg, Russia ("Ceramics of Alexander Kedrin", Artist's Union) 1983- Moscow, Russia ("Ceramics of Alexander Kedrin", Architect's Union USSR) 1972- Tashkent, Uzbekistan ("Ceramics of Alexander Kedrin", Museum of Fine Arts) 1965- Tashkent, Uzbekistan ("Sasha Kedrin: Ceramics, Paintings, Drawings", Komsomolets of Uzbekistan Newspaper office) GROUP EXHIBITIONS: 2007 Amsterdam Whitney Gallery, NY NY 2005 Contemporary Russian Art, C.A.S.E. Gallery, NJ, US 2002 “Russian Evenings in Manhattan”, 232 West 11th St NY 1997 -“Russian Art”, METLife Building NY NY 1997 – Fine Art Association, Brooklyn, NY TELEVISION & RADIO: 04-07-2012 V. Topaller - Alexander Kedrin (RTVi)   MUSEUM PERMANENT COLLECTIONS: Zimmerly Art Museum, Rutgers – New Brunswick NJ, USA C.A.S.E. Museum of Contemporary Russian Art, NJ USA Museum of Ceramics, Vilnius, Lithuania Museum of People of the East, Moscow State Museum of Arts, Tashkent Museum of the Culture of the People of Uzbekistan Museum of Applied Arts, Tashkent State Arts Museum of Karakalpak Republic, Nukus Private collections of Russia, Germany, Poland, Israel, Turkey, Pakistan, UK, USA, Canada, France, Korea, Denmark, others. INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS: International Exhibition – C.A.S.E. Museum US -2006 Florence Biennale – Florence, Italy – 2003 Contemporary Ceramics – Vilnius, Lithuania 1975 EXPO ’67 – Montreal, Canada –– 1967 MAIN MONUMENTAL PIECES: 1988- Tashkent, Uzbekistan - Cultural-Informational Center, Fountain "Temptation" 17' x 3'17" x 3'7" ceramic 1987- Kokand, Uzbekistan - Theater "Hamza" relief "Blue Cities" 14' x 37'7" x 7" ceramic 1985- Samarkand, Uzbekistan - relief "Mahallya" 17' x 7'7" x I 1" ceramic, glass 1985- Zheleznovodsk, Russia - sanatorium "Uzbekistan" - relief "Uzbekistan" 6' x 7' x 7" ceramic 1983- Tashkent, Uzbekistan - hotel "Moscow" relief "Garden of Winds" 14' x 71'7" x 17" ceramic, glass 1982- Tashkent, Uzbekistan - Metro - relief "The Sky - my native Land." 14' x 700' ceramic 1981- Tashkent, Uzbekistan -"Palace of People's Friendship" relief "Gulli Nav" and "Gulli Chah" 31' x 27' x 27" ceramic 1979- Tashkent, Uzbekistan - "Palace of Arts" - relief "My Favorite City" 7'7" x 41 ' ceramic 1977- Tashkent, Uzbekistan - "Ulduz" Corporation- two side relief "Bakhor"(The Spring) 6'5" x 17' x 1'7"             ceramic 1976- Sochi, Russia - sanatorium "Uzbekistan" - relief "Sogdiana" 12'7" x 77' x 14" ceramic 1970- Tashkent, Uzbekistan - Cafe "Blue Dome" - Fountain mosaic, metal