Exhibition of Drawings by Sergey Kuznetsov Opened in Multimedia Art Museum

‘Portraits’ of buildings, graphics to projects and atmospheric watercolors capturing the impressions of Moscow’s Chief Architect Sergey Kuznetsov, who has been painting cities of the world for many years were included into the exhibition Personal Contact / Architectural Graphics that opened on July 20 at the Multimedia Art Museum in Moscow.

«This is an exhibition about the dialogue with the city and with the environment; I selected artworks that carry some particular imprint of the world’s cities that I happened to visit,» — said Sergey Kuznetsov.

The exhibition presents 120 works made by the architect during his trips or as graphic illustrations to specific projects. The technique varies greatly: from pencil, ink, felt-tip pen commonly used by Sergey Kuznetsov as a practicing architect to free watercolor, which has been his passion in the past three years.

«When I worked more as an architect, the artworks were more accurate and aligned, like a project, even in drawings of nature. I just paid attention to other things. Now, I’m making ambient drawings in watercolor that gives me a bigger freedom of expression, rendering of the overall composition and impression,» said Sergey Kuznetsov.

However, the ‘portraits’ of buildings, which constitute a significant part of the exposition, always give away the craving for pictoriality in the artist. Exotic buildings of Kyoto and Rouen Cathedral, Istanbul and Venice, Moscow and Paris join the dialogue. A series of drawings made for the project for the Architectural Biennale in Venice in 2016 presents reflections on the relationship to the Soviet heritage, the presence of ideology in this architecture and its restoration.

The history of this exhibition project, according to Sergey Kuznetsov, is related to reflections on the impact of the environment on people, which coincided with the period of active drawing of the last ten years. «What is memorable in the city, what’s impressive, what architecture should be to influence people: all this is under scrutiny,» says the artist.

Curators: Thomas W. Schaller, Ekaterina Shalina

Exposition design: Agnia Sterligova/ Planet 9

The exhibition will be open until September 10. The exposition will present the catalogue of art by Sergey Kuznetsov.

Reproductions of Sergey Kuznetsov’s drawings are available for sale in the URBANBUKS online store http://urbanbooks.ru. The proceeds will be sent to the Charity Fund for Orphans ‘Here and Now’

Sergey Kuznetsov is a Russian architect, since 2012 he has been the Chief Architect of the city of Moscow, the Chairman of the Architectural Council of Moscow. Honorary Professor of the Moscow Architectural Institute, a member of the American Society of Architectural Graphic Design (ASAI), laureate of the competition of the American Society of Architectural Graphic 2015 (AIP-30). In 2014, the publishing house Skira (Italy) released an album of drawings by Sergei Kuznetsov made during his travels to Europe, Asia and America.

Official web page of Sergey Kuznetsov

Charity fund for orphans «Here and Now» was founded in 2005. The Fund helps orphans, orphan graduates, foster families and families at risk, develops integrated social assistance programs and provides targeted help.

Official site of the Fund