Ilya Bogatov

Reviews

About the author

Artist, member of the Union of Artists of Russia, member of the International Association of Art (IAA) under UNESCO.

On the picturesque canvases of Ilya Alexandrovich Bogatov, there is a clear representation of his life and creative philosophy, anchored in traditional values. The meticulousness and masterfulness of his technique recalls the great predecessors of the artist. Even before obtaining his diploma in professional education, Bogatov's studies attracted attention with their meticulous painting finish, mastery, unpretentiousness of motif, freshness of vision, and the liveliness characteristic of the Russian landscape mood. The harmony of nature and mankind, motifs of silence and peace, the "subsided wind" are evident in his programmatic works and studies in landscape, portrait, and historical genre.

Ilya Bogatov's childhood fell during the late Soviet period. With his parents, he traveled extensively across the large country and received bright, invaluable, and diverse impressions. In his youth, during the perestroika era, he enriched his life experience by trying many professions of different qualifications. In his mature years, he consciously and responsibly chose the profession of an artist and his place of residence - the village of Lezhnevo. The last two circumstances: professional responsibility and life in an ancient trade and craft village in the center of Russia - shaped his sense of time and space, ideology and style as an artist.

For many creative individuals, the Russian hinterland became a place for comprehending the moral essence of the people's life and a source of inspiration. Lezhnevo, arisen in immemorial times at a bustling crossroads of trade routes, is first mentioned in written sources of the 16th century as a rich royal village. The preserved cultural, industrial, and residential buildings in the style of provincial classicism, organically integrated into the natural environment, make Lezhnevo one of the most interesting places in the Ivanovo region. A sensitive observer feels there the layered atmosphere, saturated with historical time. The stability and order of the root life, the values of past and future generations painstakingly wrought by the public consciousness are interwoven into the artistic method of I. Bogatov.

In the genre of landscape, the artist's field of vision encompasses not only natural vistas and architectural structures, but also rare animalistic subjects that are uncommon for city dwellers. The wet early spring, a sky swollen with autumn rains, the scattered light of a summer evening, stone and wooden houses, bridges, small horses, cows, chickens captivate the viewer not with external effects, but with the possibility of deep, sincere empathy. With unassuming, quiet modesty, the nature of Lezhnev resonates with emotional diversity not only in the landscape but also in portraiture. The wisdom of old age, the merits of midlife, enlightenment through Orthodox faith, the innocence of childhood, the introspection of adolescence—these are the themes of Bogatov the portraitist. The painter's turn to the historical genre may seem at first glance motivated not so much by an interest in the dynamics of historical events as by ethnography and the life of the 13th and subsequent centuries. However, Bogatov's historical genre is more significant than just the admiration of bright and rational folk costumes. In each canvas, against the backdrop of nature, architecture, and household surroundings thoroughly studied by the author, a clear, personal, heartfelt story is told of the people who lived on this land in bygone eras, understandable to the contemporary viewer. Often, the artist's wife Olga becomes the model not only in portraits but also in historical paintings, and in male characters, self-portrait features are discernible: the past is tightly tied to the present in a tight knot.

In recent years, the subjects of the Lezhnev artist have been enriched by Crimean landscapes, which have acquired individual traits. But even in the landscapes of the south, the master's main attention is devoted to the constancy of nature: the sea and mountains, the high sky and vast expanses, the bright light and lush flowering, against which—traces of antiquity.

Avoiding the momentariness of flashy and superficial techniques, the artist continues to develop in the humanistic direction traditional for Russian art, which is what attracts viewers.

E. A. Tolstopyatova.
Ilya Alexandrovich Bogatov, born in 1973 in Rostov-on-Don. Lives and works in the Ivanovo Region, in the settlement of Lezhnevo.
Graduate of the Malyutin Ivanovo Chemical University.
Member of the Union of Artists of Russia, AIAP UNESCO.
Participant in All-Russian, international, regional, and district exhibitions.
2003 - Solo exhibition. Ivanovo House of Artists
2007 - All-Russian exhibition "Young Artists of Russia" Central House of Artists, Moscow
2008 - Exhibition-competition "Reflection" for the 90th anniversary of V. A. Fedorov. Ivanovo, Kostroma, Yaroslavl, Vologda, Ples, Moscow.
2009 - All-Russian exhibition "Russia" XI Central House of Artists, Moscow.
2010 - Exhibition "At the Turn of the Millennia". International Fund "Cultural Heritage," Central House of Artists, Moscow
2011 - Exhibition "Greatness in the Small" International Fund "Cultural Heritage," Central House of Artists, Moscow
2011 - Art exhibition in Don-In, China.
2012 - Exhibition "Dreams of Montenegro" International Fund "Cultural Heritage," Central House of Artists, Moscow
2013 - Exhibition of laureates of the International Fund "Cultural Heritage." Prospect Gallery, St. Petersburg.
2013 - Regional exhibition "Artists of the Central Regions of Russia" Lipetsk.
2014 - All-Russian exhibition "Russia XII"
Solo exhibition "Revelation," House of Artists, Ivanovo.
All-Russian art exhibition for the 700th anniversary of the birth of St. Sergius of Radonezh, Ryazan.
2015 - Solo exhibition "Ilya Bogatov. Painting," catalog. Ivanovo State University. Ivanovo.
2016 - Exhibition "Ilya and Olga Bogatovs," House of Artists, Ivanovo.
2018 - Exhibition "Ilya and Olga Bogatovs," Museum-Exhibition Center of the IGICM named after D. G. Burylin
2018 - Regional exhibition "Artists of the Central Regions of Russia" Lipetsk.
2019 - Solo exhibition "About Love," Ivanovo Regional Art Museum.
2020 - Family exhibition of Ilya and Olga Bogatovs "Life - Creation, Creation - Life," Ivanovo House of Nationalities.
2021 - Exhibition of Ivanovo artists in Ples.
2023 - Solo exhibition, Ivanovo Regional Duma, Ivanovo.
2023 - Art exhibition at the Ivanovo Regional Theater, Ivanovo.
2023 - Exhibition of Ilya and Olga Bogatovs "Under One Sky," library of Lezhnevo.
2023 - Anniversary exhibition of the Ivanovo Union of Artists "90 Years Together" Yaroslavl.
2023 - Regional art exhibition "Center of Russia XIII" Voronezh.
2024 - All-Russian art exhibition "Russia XIII" Moscow.
Awards:
1) Diploma of the Union of Artists of Russia "For Achievements in Creativity and Contribution to the Development of Fine Arts in Russia"
2) Silver medal "For Mastery" and diploma of the International Fund "Cultural Heritage"
3) Letter of Appreciation from the Ivanovo Regional Duma.