Alexander Rodin. About the artist

Alexander Rodin is a contemporary artist from Belarus. Alexander Rodin is known for his large-sized canvases full of jaw-dropping details. He resided at Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin, Germany for 12 years.

Alexander Rodin's paintings are an event quite unexpected for Belarusian art with its ideological taboos and conventional norms. The art composition in his paintings is based upon the multi-faceted reflections of infinite spaces. The latter undergo constant changes of urban, geological, technocratic and biological nature. And in order to take them to a single image-bearing system Alexander chooses a high panoramic point of view and uses practical monochrome colors of various tonalities.

Diverse sides of Alexander Rodin are seen throughout his works. He seeks to cover everything – both abstractionism and cosmic landscapes. He often turns to technique called “pointillism”. Alexander’s works have always been notable for their polysemanticism. They are compared to the game of chess. Some of his admirers once said – “the first impression from his painting -- they couldn’t have been created by a man”. Alexander paints the universe with microscopic precision. The longer one peers at those silver-black abysses the deeper they become...

Alexander Rodin is an experimentalist in his nature and never repeats himself in his works. In his creative search he resembles Wassily Kandinsky and seeks to develop a certain philosophical composition. Alexander himself says that “…an audience needs some nerve! If an artist has it in his works, if he is stripped and palpable then the audience sees and understands that. I work in a manner that’s unfortunately moved to the background now; it has been substituted for coloring and graphics. I combine avant-garde forms and introduce constructivism and cosmogonism…and through the plasticity of the rhythms and color structures I try to juxtapose the micro and macro cosmos of mental, physical and astral being”.

Alexander Rodin was born in Baranavichy (town near Minsk), Belarus in 1947
1971 graduated from the Belarusian Academy of Arts
1980 became a member of the Belarusian Artists Union
2000 became a member of the International Guild of Artist
2001 became a member of the Contemporary Art Association
since 2001 a resident artist of Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin, Germany.

Solo Exhibitions:
1980 Exhibition Hall of Belarusian Artists Union, Minsk, Belarus
1988 Rush Hour, Minsk, Belarus
1990 Cassandra Call, the National Art Museum, Minsk, Belarus
1991 The Central Artists House, Moscow, Russia
1994 Sixth Line Gallery, Minsk, Belarus
1994 The Centre of Experimental Arts, Vlissingen, the Netherlands
1995 CAES Hall, Ris-Orangis, France
1997 IFIAC Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
1998-99 Municipality of Vlissingen, the Netherlands
1999 Secret and Explicit, the National Art Museum, Minsk, Belarus
2001 Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin, Germany
2002 Second Entry into the Tacheles, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin, Germany
2005 Free Fall, Kunsthaus Tacheles Berlin, Germany
2005 The National Library of Belarus, Minsk, Belarus
2006 Podzemka Art Gallery, Minsk, Belarus
2006-2007 Kali Yuga, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin, Germany
2007-2008 Dach-5, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin, Germany
2001-2012 Ongoing exhibition at Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin, Germany

Group Exhibitions:
1971, 1975 Art Show of Young Artists, the National Museum, Minsk, Belarus
1976-1980 Annual Art Showthe National Art Gallery, Minsk, Belarus
1989 Treasure of the Belarusian Avant-garde, Minsk, Belarus
1990 The Centre of Contemporary Art Norblin, Warsaw, Poland
1992 Art Shock, Palace of Art Gallery, Minsk, Belarus
1993 Days of Belarusian Art at the Exhibition Hall of Ukrainian Artists Union, Kyev, Ukraine
1993 The Central Artists House, Moscow, Russia
1994-2001 Pahonia, Palace of Art Gallery, Minsk, Belarus
1996 Belarusian Days in France, Centre of Herbert, Paris, France
2001 Dach - Belarusian Art, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin, Germany
2002 Center of Pierre Cardin, Paris, France
2003 Dach II, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin, Germany
2006 Der Mechanische Mann der Kultur, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin, Germany
2006 Minsk - Berlin, Kunsthaus Tacheles. Berlin, Germany
2007 Dimensions, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin, Germany
2007 Kauft uns warm!, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin, Germany
2008 Victims of Art, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin, Germany
2008 Absent Belarusian Art, Museum of Non-Conformist Art, St. Petersburg, Russia
2009 Victims of Art (Dach-9), Palace of Arts Gallery, Minsk, Belarus
2010 Belarusian Art Week, the National Art Museum, Minsk, Belarus
2010 Dach 10, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin, Germany
2011 East Meets West, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin, Germany

Alexander Rodin's works are at the National Art Museum of Belarus, the Museum of Modern Art in Minsk, Belarus, Hasso-Platter Institute in Potsdam Germany and numerous private collections in Germany, Switzerland, the UK, France, the USA, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Russia, Belgium and other countries.

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