Ney Oleksandr

Girl’s head H-19,5 cm, terracotta
About work

In Ney’s creative search for his “good art”, his knowledge of the ancient cultures of Mesopotamia, China, Egypt, Africa, and others was important. A large number of holes of different configurations, penetrating deep into the image created by the master, symbolize the connection and intense exchange flow between the world and human consciousness. On the invoice apertures often alternate with the size of grain on a surface of the form and in apertures. The linear organization of the system of external and internal “codes” symbolizes the eternal movement of creative human thought. The idea embodied in the sculpture was created by Nea’s philosophy.

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Date of Birth: 1939
Place of residence: New York

Alexander Ney (1939) – a sculptor, graphic artist, who gained worldwide fame due to innovative interpretations of the image and the use of new technologies in sculpture.

He received his art education at the Leningrad Art School at the Academy of Arts (1954 -1957). In the Moscow Art School at the State Academic Institute. V. Surikova (1957-1959). From 1959 to 1967 he studied at the Leningrad State Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture named after I. Resolved.

In his younger years, O. Ney spent a lot of time copying the drawings of great masters; Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci and others. Moreover, following the executed copy, he interpreted the worked out plot, applying a freer manner of drawing. He was concerned about the process of transferring positive energy from the author of the work to the viewer.

Ney’s early work can be largely attributed to abstract expressionism. As a student, the sculptor taught at the House of Pioneers in Leningrad. Among his students was the future Russian writer Sergei Dovlatov.

The impossibility of popularizing “unofficial art” in the USSR, the constant persecution in the 60-70’s deviated from the accepted principles of “Soviet realism” in the country determined the further fate of the sculptor. In 1972, Ney left the Soviet Union and settled in Paris. In 1974, he immigrated to the United States with his family.

Soon in 1979 in the gallery of Eduard Nakhamkin (New York) a personal exhibition of the sculptor took place. Another solo exhibition, Alexander Ney: A Retrospective, was held in 2004 at the Mimi First Gallery in New York.

She developed his own creative method, thanks to which his sculptural works are recognizable to a wide range of fans of modern art. In his youth, the artist defined the main thing for himself: “I realized that good art evokes positive emotions, and that neither fake intellect nor meticulous performance make a proper impression if the author himself did not experience, did not feel what he portrayed.”

The master’s works are stored in the collections of the State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow), the State Russian Museum (St. Petersburg), the State Museum of Fine Arts. O.S. Pushkin (Moscow), the Museum of Contemporary Art (Moscow), the State Center for Contemporary Art (Moscow), the Institute of Contemporary Russian Culture (Los Angeles), and others.

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