Kasatkin Nikolay

1932

Nikolay Kasatkin studied at the Moscow State Academic Art institute named after V.I. Surikov, graduating in 1959. Initially he oriented towards classic painting, particularly European romanticism and elegiac Russian landscape of the XIXth century. However, the evolution of the classic direction in Kasatkin's art went past the official path. His closest associates turned out to be Erik Bulatov (b. 1933), Oleg Vasiliev (1931–2013) and other representatives of non-official art. The artist explores the transformation of realistic motives, filling them with philosophiс content, soft and subtle concept. For that purpose, he uses elements of photorealism, kitsch culture, and other “incidental” practices.

Vladimir Prokhorov