Gostev - Gallery
Contemplation of painting is an emotional act, a breath of the work of art. A painting is a showcase of the artist, and everyone can see the showcase and pass by it, but if you suddenly feel like it, you can stop and go inside. Inside is the artist's soul, and you will be able to understand his appeal to you.
- Anatoli Gostev 1946 - 2022)
In front of Gostev’s paintings, you lose your ability to speak and stop perceiving the image in the usual way. A pure, simple emotion embedded in every canvas: "Look, it's me – the magnificent beauty of everyday things."
By interpreting objects, people, and landscapes through form and color, Gostev had only one goal: "It doesn’t matter how, but it must be beautiful. A painting is meant to live with a person, and it should evoke ONLY positive emotions."
Having immigrated to Western Europe at the end of the 20th century in search of the experience of Chagall, Soutine, Kandinsky, and European masters of painting, the artist amazed viewers with his clear, pure thought and Russian simplicity. He removed everything unnecessary, leaving only the essential. Critics said of him: "The last artist who absorbed the experience of the great masters of painting."
Asserting that mastery in painting cannot be achieved without reflection and hard work, possessing inhuman perseverance, diligence, and a genius for contemplation, Gostev experimented extensively, found, and shaped his unique and universally understandable style – perfect simplicity of forms just before the threshold of abstraction. This balance – his own territory discovered over half a century with a brush in hand.
Gallery of the Master of Painting.
Simplicity of Subjects in Painting
There is nothing more complex than simplicity.
Reflection on the beauty of everyday things has always been part of the subjects of the great masters of painting. Gostev argued that there is a thousand times more drama in Van Gogh’s "boots" than in "The Morning of the Streltsy Execution." The simplicity of Anatoli Gostev’s painting subjects runs like a thread through their primary significance. A house – that’s important. When another house is nearby, it feels warmer. Firewood in front of the house warms in winter, and household items are part of our lives. We are like ships in the ocean of life. In the harmonious compositions of the master’s paintings, all objects and people are in an act of emotional interconnectedness. Simplicity and unity of the subject, where nothing is superfluous.
The Power of Hope Through Form and Color
Only hope saves from loneliness and despair.
Hope for a meeting, love, embraces, and warmth. In hope and anticipation, strength is born. In the painting "The Last Tree" – the strength of hope; "The Night Violinist" will awaken the sleeping with the sound of the violin and meet someone; "The Last Ship" has ended its journey, but on the shore awaits the eternal home – the final resting place. In despair, but with hope, the "Dogs" run toward the red, glowing symbol of faith in the night. Hope and anticipation of an event in the artist’s subjects are summarized in the painting "The Red Road." The artist slowly painted the arrival and understanding of the approaching spring from 2014 to 2021. Winter departs, giving way to colors and new hopes.
A Painting Through the Prism of a Moment
An artist creates and captures a moment in the mosaic of time.
Andrei Tarkovsky spoke about the preservation of time through cinema as a mosaic of fixation. An artist interprets the moment of a landscape, the arrangement of objects, the emotion of people or nature through a prism. Most people see the world literally, but it is precisely the creation of a unique prism that defines the artist. When the moment of understanding the completeness of one’s tool arrives, all obstacles and so-called creative torments remain behind. Understanding how to create a painting out of anything comes as a reward and productivity. In the last years of his life, the artist simply couldn’t keep up with creating paintings, working simultaneously on a dozen canvases.
Instant Completeness
At every stage, a painting must be complete.
The completeness of Gostev’s started paintings is visible even in their early stages. This speaks to a full understanding of actions and the final image. The number of sketches and paintings that are understandable almost immediately by their style and thought is astonishing. The swift confidence of brushstrokes – new paintings fill the artist’s studio until the moment of understanding the end of the path. Six months before his death, Gostev painted a farewell fresco on the wall of a house, corrected his symbol – "The Last Tree." Work on "The Red Road" was replaced by "The Last Ship." Continuing to work, he discussed painting and the world with his son, reflecting on how little good there is in people... And that perhaps, someone might learn about the simplicity of beauty through his art.
During his lifetime, Gostev created about 500 works of easel painting, numerous projects, and sketches, some of which have been published in his biography. Throughout his life, Anatoli Gostev passed on his experience and reflections to his son, laying the foundation for the Gostev dynasty, where the third generation continues this amazing craft – to convey the world through colors. Part of the works from the Gostev dynasty collection is published in the gallery.
The artist left this world on January 15, 2022, at the age of 75, leaving behind beauty and fond memories.
Anatoli Gostev – the last artist.
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