Friday, October 19 2007
FRANTS GALLERY SPACE
81 Wooster St, New York, NY 10012 USA
Valentin Gromov at Frants Gallery Space (St. Petersburg)
Valentin Gromov was born in 1930 in Leningrad, on Rubinstein Street, where this exhibition takes place. He studied at the Secondary Art School at the Academy of Arts and befriended Alexander Arefiev, Sholom Schwartz, Vladimir Shagin, Rodion Gudzenko, met architecture student Richard Vasm and poet Reald Mandelshtam. They formed a close-knit group, a secret order that became a hub of unofficial art in the city. Gromov, deeply committed to art, focused on the painterly aspects of his work, emphasizing color relationships and the “chemistry” of texture and color. His themes range from personal, like the city outskirts, to universal, like phrenology, and he paints landscapes, beaches, foyers, and theatrical scenes. Despite his early opposition to official art, Gromov continues to create canvases that, while classical, are filled with freshness and hidden agitation.
By Lyubov Gurevich