Nostalgia. Rita Orekhova. Natalia Karpova

The first in Russia personal exhibition of the Russian artist living in France Rita Orekhova is devoted to the tercentenary of St. Petersburg. Her St. Petersburg, Rus, and Garden watercolours and painterly series are accompanied by the bronze works by Petersburg sculptor Natalia Karpova. Rita Orekhova was born in Barnaul, finished an art school in Vladivostok, and moved to Leningrad in 1981. Here she studied simultaneously in the Academy of Arts and in the Herzen Institute. The artist's creative formation was greatly influenced by her grandfather A. P. Korovyakov, who taught painting in the art school by the Academy of Arts. In 1989, Rita Orekhova became a member of the Union of Artists, and in 1994 - left for France. In France, Rita Orekhova works with Russian musicians, whose concerts are accompanied with her paintings. Influenced by music, Rita Orekhova created her first religious work - St. George (1998). Although the artist strives to create icons following the classic canon, her works are full of sensitivity and are rather of worldly character. Quite often the artist uses old shutters brought "from all over the world" as support for her icons. Some Rita Orekhova's works seem abstract, however, there is always a concrete image behind every work. When young, the artist tried to go away from concrete details, which hinder observers from comprehending the general. Rita Orekhova has gone through different stages and thinks the current to be a kind of coming closer to the "classics", to such a generalization where no details distract attention and the 'thing' comes forth. Natalia Karpova was born in Novgorod, graduated from the Faculty of Sculpture, I. Y. Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. In 1973-1978 she worked in an art studio under the guidance of M. Anikushin. At the same time Natalia Karpova took part in All-Union, International, Republican, and zonal exhibitions. In 1976, she was awarded with the USSR Academy of Arts Diploma for her sculpture portrait of the Decembrist A. I. Ryleyev. Since 1993 she has taught sculpture and drawing at the Visual Art Faculty of the A. I. Herzen Russian State University.