Today the exhibition "Estrin Code" will open in the A3 gallery. We talked with her curator Anastasia Dokuchaeva and the author of the graphic works presented at the exhibition, architect and artist Sergei Estrin. ***
Archi.ru:
The new exhibition is somehow related to the previous one,
last year? Do you line up your graphic exhibitions, or do they form spontaneously?
Sergey Estrin:
Last year's exhibition has practically nothing to do with the present one. Then I took this event quite lightly. As a result, the exposition consisted of works that were simply at hand. This time I approached the exhibition much more seriously: I invited the curator Anastasia Dokuchaeva, with whom we thought out in detail the concept and structure of the exhibition. The difference is that last year I tried to talk about my favorite hobby, because that's the only way I felt about my passion for drawing. Today it has become something much more significant for me, and therefore the exhibition has acquired a different scale.
In addition to exhibitions, you were seen as a participant in charity auctions - I'm talking about the recent Arhidar auction, where your paintings were very successfully sold. How long have you been taking part in such promotions and why?
Sergey Estrin:
This is the first time I have participated in this charity auction. It was a completely sincere impulse. I just responded to the request of the organizers, who raised funds for the treatment of children with severe heart disease, and provided them with my works. I am glad that we managed to sell them for a good price and I hope that it really helped someone.
Returning to the exhibition. It is called the Estrin Code. Why?
Anastasia Dokuchaeva:
A good name for an exhibition should always be ambiguous. The name "Estrin Code" did not appear immediately, but everyone liked it instantly. He has many meanings, hidden meanings and interpretations. We can assume that this is the access code to the creative laboratory of Sergey Estrin. At the same time, this code cannot be hacked mechanically; special penetration is required here. The emphasis is not on project activities, but on architectural graphics, the artist's fantasies, which are unlikely to ever come true. In this regard, a lot of moves and connections arise that explain how architectural images are born and built. As a result, a person who comes to the exhibition gets a kind of pass to the interesting world of creativity and professional activity of a real architect. Estrin's Code is a password for the author himself - not only as a professional, but also as a person.
Sergey Estrin:
Personally, I have always been very interested in the creative life of my colleagues, I have always wanted to understand and see how they work, design, communicate with clients. As a rule, all this remains in the shadows. I tried to open the curtain with this exhibition, suggesting that my creative life may also be interesting to someone.
What years works will be presented at the exposition? Or is it not the time of writing that unites them, but something else?
Anastasia Dokuchaeva:
We have not arranged the paintings in chronology, the exhibition will feature works from different periods. There will be both the earliest works from the times of 1991, and those created quite recently. But most of the works on display were written in the last 4–5 years. The exposition includes several sections, which are combined into some semantic groups. For example, there will be a line associated with the futuristic and avant-garde experiments of Sergei Estrin. A group of paintings based on living impressions. Sergey has a huge variety of styles and architectural ideas, so we tried to create a voluminous and versatile exhibition.
Sergey Estrin:
I would say a little differently. The exhibition seems to me quite concrete, presenting sketches of real buildings and spaces alongside architectural fantasies. 90 percent of these will be fantasy works, in which there is always emotion - which, probably, is of interest. And then you can already trace the use of different materials, techniques, tools. In a drawing, as in architecture, there should be a basic idea, and only then work with details: form, light, silhouette, texture, substrate …
How will the exhibition space be built?
Anastasia Dokuchaeva:
I will not fully disclose the secret, but I will say that, while building the exposition, we really did not want to lose the freedom and openness of the gallery space. Therefore, an interesting contrast arose between the museum-analytical approach and some anti-classical techniques - almost rock art, but created by a person with good taste.
Sergey Estrin:
An architect thinks big, using large forms. Therefore, at the exhibition, the viewer will see a play of scales with a clearly defined direction of movement and a guessed, readable main idea. Lighting will also play a significant role.
Remembering your craving for experimentation and non-trivial approaches to drawing, I would like to ask - what innovations should be expected this time?
Sergey Estrin:
This time there is very little space left for innovations - the exhibition turned out to be too large-scale. And I didn't want to just show tricks for the sake of entertainment. Although experiments by themselves have not disappeared from my creative life. For example, recently I tried to paint with a soldering iron on leather shoes. It was pretty interesting. The soldering iron leaves traces on the skin that look like sharp strokes of paint. Of course, this is a completely different genre, not very suitable for a real exhibition. Within the framework of the exposition, it will be possible to see drawings on glass - something that was not there last time. The drawing is applied from the back side, and all layers are drawn in a mirror image. And you have to work like "in rewind": first you draw the final light strokes, and only at the end - the base. It's not that easy considering that I always draw without any preliminary sketches. In my opinion, sketches take life away from a painting; strokes and repetition make the original sincere emotion caricature. When I served as a member of the jury of the "Archigraphics" competition, it was very striking. It was a shame that a good work with the right idea and theme loses its quality, being outlined on the sketch.
Recently, in addition to architecture, you have also begun to appear caricatured sketches depicting live communication between the architect and the customer. Will these cartoons be featured in the exhibition?
Anastasia Dokuchaeva:
I think this could be a topic for a separate exhibition. Now we would like to focus our attention on architectural subjects, to which most of Sergey Estrin's works are devoted. However, we will show a few pictures - not entirely caricatures, but close to this - solely to please the audience.
In addition to the drawings themselves, a separate part of the exhibition is devoted to the architectural projects of the workshop. What was the principle behind this exposition? How were the works selected?
Sergey Estrin:
The architectural part will not be presented specifically by projects, but only by sketches for them. We do not deliberately switch to architecture, we do not build a chain of project development from the first draft to the completed building. However, an attentive viewer will be able to try to guess some finished works in the presented tracing papers.
Anastasia Dokuchaeva:
As an art critic, it was very interesting for me to see myself and show the viewer how experimental graphic works arise and develop. This is a difficult path, this is a whole world of ideas that often remain only beautiful and fantastic abstractions, and sometimes are reborn into real buildings.
How are architecture and graphics related? Does such a mastery of graphic means help you in architectural activity, in communicating with the customer?
Sergey Estrin:
It helps a lot in communicating with the customer. Drawing architecture, coming up with it right in front of his eyes, you can achieve an instant effect. If an architect possesses such skills, the process of designing and coming up with architecture is also easier for him. You can twist the building on paper, look at it from various angles, feel its every line, every detail. This cannot be achieved using only a computer. In addition, while drawing, the architect is not tied or dependent on the renderers and the time they will need to build the model. I can immediately draw the architecture, show it to the client and ensure that it is implemented in the form in which it was conceived. This is what I strive for from my employees.
Do your employees also draw architecture?
Sergey Estrin:
Few of the new employees of the workshop draw, most do not know how to draw and do not understand why it is needed. And, of course, it makes me sad. Although when applying for a job, the ability to draw is not a determining factor. It's rather a nice bonus. I am sincerely happy if I see that my employees speak a certain language that allows them to receive information and convey their thoughts without distortion. Just looking at analogs on the Internet and making a lot of bookmarks in the browser is not the most effective design method. Drawing is another level of information perception, which allows you to remember details and plots incomparably better and more correctly. This method teaches you to highlight the main thing. Literally in the near future I will be giving a lecture entitled "In Fashion". There I want to talk just about this topic.
How important do you think it is for a good architect to be also a very talented artist? Can one exist without the other?
Sergey Estrin:
The entire history of architecture shows that an architect does not have to be an artist. He can easily do without this skill. There are very few talented artists among architects, they are almost nonexistent. The fact is that these are two different professions. However, it is very difficult to work successfully without the ability to express your thoughts. Take Maximiliano Fuksas, for example. Absolutely all publications of his works are accompanied by the author's sketch, which does not reach the level of the artist, but is an example of stunning architectural graphics. In each of his sketches, an idea is immediately visible. With an architectural drawing, he sets the direction for the entire project. I think this is Fuksas's principled position and his approach to design, which is very close to me. You can, of course, do without sketches - there are different methods. For example, during my studies at the Moscow Architectural Institute with Vladimir Kubasov, who painted amazingly, I believed that there was no other way to approach architecture. However, after graduating from the university, I began to work for Andrey Meerson, a man with excellent and unconventional thinking, whom I had never seen with a pencil. And this did not prevent him from being a successful architect.
How long have you been drawing? How did this hobby begin?
Sergey Estrin:
I have been drawing since early childhood, like all children. He studied the basics of drawing at the House of Pioneers, then drew a lot and persistently, preparing to enter the institute. And after graduating from Moscow Architectural Institute, I safely left this hobby and all my life I was engaged exclusively in architectural practice, using the previously acquired skills for professional purposes. I probably started drawing for the sake of drawing only in recent years, and during this short time my hobby has acquired serious proportions.
Anastasia Dokuchaeva:
Now, in general, there is a certain return of interest in graphics and in contemporary art in general. In the 1970s and 1980s, graphics were considered an elite art, inaccessible to the majority. With the arrival of the nineties, all the walls were destroyed. Contemporary art began to gain weight and importance. Today there are a lot of young artists working in this direction. This is a worldwide trend.
You mentioned that you have acted as a member of the expert council of the ArchiGraphics competition more than once. Tell me, what is the most important thing for you in evaluating this or that work - non-standard technique, special possession of instruments, relevance of the topic, perhaps inspiration?
Sergey Estrin:
I paid attention to works that I understood, looking at which it becomes obvious why they were created. Pictures should always have a direction of thought and interesting ways of expressing it. If it is, the picture is beautiful. Evaluating the entries, I saw that there are a lot of talented people in our country. And even among the large number of uncertain, student works, it was possible to single out truly gifted guys who, sooner or later, will achieve success. I repeat that the most important thing for me in evaluating a work is its emotionality. I do not like and do not accept "girlish" works - neatly drawn, but soulless.
In your works, do you also try to meet the aforementioned requirements?
Sergey Estrin:
Of course. In my own works, emotion is also important to me. Although, painting space, it is very difficult to achieve emotionality. The architecture itself is pretty restrained. In this sense, the prisons of the Italian engraver Giovanni Piranesi are very good. Here you need to be able to stop in time so that your emotionality does not deprive the picture of meaning.
The exhibition opens today. Why, in your opinion, is it definitely worth visiting?
Anastasia Dokuchaeva:
Exhibitions of graphics, and even more so architectural ones, are extremely rare. Therefore, this exhibition can be seen as a major event not to be missed. The exhibition is designed for a wide variety of audiences, everyone will find something new, surprising and memorable for themselves.
Sergey Estrin:
It seems to me that this exposition is interesting primarily because it offers a huge variety of technical solutions, while remaining within one main theme - architecture. In addition, I have heard more than once that after my lectures and exhibitions, people willy-nilly begin to paint themselves - even those who do not know how to do it at all. I hope that this time too my works will be able to push visitors to drawing lessons. Probably, for the sake of this everything was started.
