Michael Antonov (born  1956)

Graduated from the Republican Art school named after Benkov. The artist developed his artistic skills at the Nukus Museum of Art, where he worked as an artist for several years.   Igor Savitskiy played an important role in forming Antonov’s creativity.  Antonov’s works are distinguished by a search for new forms, symbolism and ornamental character of his compositions.

The works by M. Antonov located at Karakalpak State Art Museum by Savitsky, as well as galleries and private collections all over Russia and also in Germany, France, Italy, the UK, Finland and the USA.

M. Antonov - one of the brightest representatives of so-called mixed-modern style, transforms the outside environment of the actuality into a completely new reality, associated with dreams, intuitive self-actualization and harmony. Unique gift of portraying colors and individual personality of his works attracts many collectors, galleries and museums of many countries - from the Eastern Europe to the Western, as well as the United States.

For his latest works, M. Antonov is not interested in the sources of the concrete phenomena; he is rather interested in the associations initiated by them. Such works as "Idols", "Fishermen", "A conversation", "A still-life", "Emerald composition", "Presentiment",  "A landscape", "A landscape with an idol", "Hope", "The mermaid", "at noon", "A still-life with a wine glass", "Mystery", "Priests", etc. Every working canvas of the artist will be different in its thoughtfulness and deepness of the composition, all the while making it seem that the piece of art was done at one breath, outside of the entity of time and space.

One of the most unique and lambent features if the artist is his extremely rich palette, it enriches the picturesque decision, filling the works with transparency and perplexity, with silver tones and refinement of lines.

"The escaping form" - is a work, illustrating figures and shadows in a dark background as if running away.  The art work made in the original color scale, using blue, yellow, red, orange, turquoise, and brown tones. The artist is "staging" a plot as a timeless phenomenon, reflecting the author's inner world and creative thinking. You can feel the artist's desire to illustrate the mystery of life, its suppleness, by imperceptible patches of light and softness of the translucent moonlight.

The creative manner of the artist is present alongside with the strict architecture of forming elements, the structure of spatial decisions, and subtlety of linear and color rhythms ("Composition # 6", "Entrance", "The crisis of the soul", etc.) For M. Antonov, the emphasis on ambiguity and abstract art is a necessity of self-expression, including any associations with tangible and recognized material world. "The dance" - is one of such works, where M. Antonov illustrates an image playing in a dark light, using a bright expressionist drawing. The personage seems to be shaped by many extended forms; the secret language of the canvas is thus developed deeply. The democracy and universalism of the abstracts allow the artist to open up in his aesthetic predilections, unravel his creative culture and professional skill.