Andrei Bartenev. Biography, creativity, personal life

What do you know about the contemporary artist named Andrei Bartenev? We do not exclude that our readers do not know much about this original creator yet. Despite the fact that he often appears on the television screens as a distinguished guest of a talk show, ordinary people, far from the life of artistic bohemians, are mostly completely ignorant of his work or biography. We propose to fill the gaps in knowledge and get to know more closely the personality of this extraordinary person who does not look like anyone.

Who is he?

If we talk about belonging to a certain profession, then it's just that, in a word, you can not tell. Artist? Yes, perhaps, you can say so. And Bartenev is a director, designer, fashion designer, sculptor and even a little writer. All these creative interests are part of the professional activities of Andrei Bartenev.

He has a unique capacity for work and talent, dresses in bright shocking costumes, wears colorful balls and other unusual items on his head. He says that at night he sees fantastic dreams and has the ability to move to neighboring galaxies. He never changes his creative credo and does what he wants. And Andrew does not try to explain to others what he wanted to say or show in his installations, saying that his skate is visualization, but the interpretation of what he saw is already the lot of the audience.

Today, Andrei Bartenev's works are in the exposition of the best foreign galleries. And he himself often happens abroad, than at home in Russia. Here he, as already said, is little known to the general public, but abroad, our unrecognized genius is literally worn on the hands.

short biography

Andrei Bartenev was born in the city of Norilsk in 1969. He tells reporters that in his childhood he dreamed of learning to play the piano, but, alas, the tight conditions of the Soviet communal did not allow placing a bulky musical instrument in the apartment.

When the boy was 16 years old, he left his native Norilsk and enrolled at the Art Institute of the city of Krasnodar. There he acquired the profession of a theater director. Well, then the future master of epatage went to conquer the capital. His artistic career began in Moscow in the late eighties.

Perhaps because Andrew spent all his childhood in the north, surrounded by white snows, he began to use only bright colors in his work. And materials for the first art works were glass jars and plastic bottles, highlighted by light-emitting diodes. In the early 90's, he, as they say, "hit the water" - the domestic cultural world, stunned by unexpectedly surging freedom, discovered new opportunities and names.

The first known Andrei Bartenev was in 1992, thanks to the performance he performed under the title "Botanical Ballet". This work was awarded to the Grand Prix at the Riga Festival. In 1996, Bartenev became a member of the Union of Artists of Moscow.

Performance of Andrei Bartenev

Especially popular among spectators are the unusual dynamic performances of the master. Seeing his acclaimed production "The Snow Queen", foreign art critics wrote that his works combine fashion, fine arts and performance art and revive the spirit of the Russian theatrical avant-garde of the 1920s. In the performance "Snow Queen" participated moving sculptures and objects, decorated with geometric figures of green, pink and bright orange. This reminded the foreign public of Malevich and Kandinsky and caused rapture.

Another world-famous performance of Andrei is called "I love you!". It is a kind of construction of a lot of huge speakers, located one after another along a winding line. The audience is invited to say the coveted words and then watch how they, living a short life, return to him with a reciprocal acknowledgment.

Andrei Bartenev: an exhibition in Moscow

In 2015, in the Moscow Museum of Modern Art , a retrospective of Andrei Bartenev's works was presented to the audience. The exhibition was located in two buildings - so much took place to show the creative universe of the master, created by him for 25 years.

As always, Bartenev's art installations were not static. The unifying element in that memorable exhibition was the movement - flickering, rotating and sounding objects turned the exposition space into a single mechanism under the direction of the author of this splendor.

Andrei Bartenev: personal life

Journalists have repeatedly tried to find out from Andrei Bartenev about his personal life, but the artist always gets rid of joking phrases and does not let anyone into his personal space. Our hero claims that he really was in love only once in his life, and that was in the kindergarten.

Once Bartenev even took part in the program "Let's get married" as a groom. But, as usual, in a joke. Andrew himself could not be seen under the suit of a yellow huge corn, crouched on top of him. Yes, and the release of the program was a New Year and entertaining.

"White crow"

Andrei Bartenev, whose photo you can appreciate in our article, always felt like a "white crow" in the community of people. He becomes a sensation always and everywhere, wherever he appears, so all his creative projects are unusual and the whole look is unusual.

To maintain his external appearance, Andrew has to spend a lot of energy, because this is one of the main parts of his image. The combination of the most inconceivable elements in clothes, coupled with incredible colors and cut - his corporate identity. Philistine literally plunges into shock at the sight of a man in a strange hat, an orange coat in apples and spectacular spectacles.

The artist himself is a little upset that abroad his appearance arouses positive and curiosity among the people around him, and in Russia often - aggression (several times the artist was attacked on the street for the purpose of beating).

Concluding remarks

How nevertheless it is good that among us sometimes there are such persons as Andrei Bartenev - an artist who is not afraid of free self-expression. Often behind a strange outward appearance are very talented people who simply can not be like everyone else.