A•Nich
A.Nich (Anton Nichiporuk) is a professional sculptor. Works in bronze. For his creative activity, he twice became the winner of the Republican art competitions (2009, 2019). Became a laureate of the presidential fund for the support of talented youth.
Born in 1989 in Baranovichi.
In 2005 entered Minsk State Art College named after A. K. Glebov with a specialization in sculpture.
From 2009 till 2015 studied at the Belarusian State Academy of Arts.
In 2016 received a master’s degree from the Belarusian State Academy of Arts.
In 2008 won the first place in the national art contest.
Since 2009 has been a participant of the project “Concept / Art / Confession group” headed by Oleg Shobin.
In 2015 won the international contest “Art-session” in Vitebsk and became a laureate of the special fund of the President of the Republic of Belarus for the support of the talented youth.
In 2017 the Brest Bible memorial sign was erected in Brest upon the author’s project.
Since 2018 has been working under the pseudonym A. Nich
In 2005 entered Minsk State Art College named after A. K. Glebov with a specialization in sculpture.
From 2009 till 2015 studied at the Belarusian State Academy of Arts.
In 2016 received a master’s degree from the Belarusian State Academy of Arts.
In 2008 won the first place in the national art contest.
Since 2009 has been a participant of the project “Concept / Art / Confession group” headed by Oleg Shobin.
In 2015 won the international contest “Art-session” in Vitebsk and became a laureate of the special fund of the President of the Republic of Belarus for the support of the talented youth.
In 2017 the Brest Bible memorial sign was erected in Brest upon the author’s project.
Since 2018 has been working under the pseudonym A. Nich
Series "Viatores", 2021
The series "Viatores" ("Wanderers") is the beginning of my immersion in the world of mythology — the world of allegories and metaphors, where fantasy and reality are mixed. Passing from mouth to mouth, the legend loses secondary details, and meaningful meanings crystallize and strengthen. The narrative in myth is often built around the hero who goes on a journey. Overcoming trials on its way, the hero’s personality will have to be transformed and transformed. It was to the heroes of legends and tales that my attention was drawn as a sculptor. Just as the mythological narrative exists outside a specific time and place, I tried to deprive the sculptural form of clear outlines, to give the bronze fluidity, while maintaining the recognizability of the image. The appearance of my characters is inextricably linked to their essence.
New, 2020 — 2021
"The Animalium" series, 2020
Human consciousness operates freely with thousands of characteristics and is capable of identifying an image even from a limited amount of data. Over billions years of life, a huge variety of biological forms have emerged. Some species disappear, others emerge. One thing remains constant — the constant process of evolution. In the Animalium series there has been a shift away from fine detail to abstract shapes and silhouettes. A continuous play of lines creates a hint of familiarity. Schematic figures are thought of as objects on the borderline between reality and the imagination. The transformation of form becomes the main object of study. The aim of each sculpture is to create a volume that exists as an abstract geometry and a concrete image-symbol at the same time. The simplified form creates a multitude of interpretations. An understated form generates a work of intuition and imagination. The viewer becomes a collaborator.
"Genesis" series, 2018
"Everything flows, everything changes." Just as in life there is nothing permanent, in my works the form is mobile like a liquid. It is known that one of the best ways to study an object is to destroy it. This series of works explores the relationship between external form and content in time. By means of sculptural plastics, I am looking for answers to the questions of how human consciousness works. My sculptures are a kind of nuggets. I use smooth polished bronze to emphasize the variability, the impermanence of the form in time and space. Solids are stripped of their usual properties, the unconnected are joined. In this way I seek to look into the essence of the object.
"Space Child" series, 2018
The sculptural compositions are dedicated to the theme of Man in the Cosmos of life, his birth, formation, his feelings, desires, sufferings and joys. "A person is a closed book" - says the artist. How to get into his inner world, how to capture the moment when he opens up to life and his destiny?
In the composition "Insight", the author, using figurative means of sculpture, literally reveals this "Book" - dissects the torso of the figure. The golden glow that comes from its depth enhances the emotional sound of the image, gives it a symbolic meaning. Similar techniques are used in other works — "Guardian"," Apollo","Metamorphosis". The composition "Confluence" is a plastic metaphor that embodies the artist’s reflections on human nature.
Man is a being made up of contradictions, in which the desire for happiness, hope and despair, good and evil, are strangely intertwined. The setting of the figure in space, the transmission of its movement, pose, gesture, and chiaroscuro modeling, which exposes the relief and expression of the form, are convincingly found by the author, revealing his emotional experiences and thoughts. The sculpture "Apollo", despite its miniature size, evokes associations with the monuments of art of the distant and perfect classics — the powerful torsos of the heroes of antiquity and the Renaissance. This work embodies the melancholy feeling of the leaking form, the disappearing beauty and at the same time the desire to protect, to revive this beauty. In fact, all the artist’s work is marked by the search for harmony and beauty, guided by the great traditions of the past, but certainly understood and interpreted by the artist from the standpoint of our time.
In the composition "Insight", the author, using figurative means of sculpture, literally reveals this "Book" - dissects the torso of the figure. The golden glow that comes from its depth enhances the emotional sound of the image, gives it a symbolic meaning. Similar techniques are used in other works — "Guardian"," Apollo","Metamorphosis". The composition "Confluence" is a plastic metaphor that embodies the artist’s reflections on human nature.
Man is a being made up of contradictions, in which the desire for happiness, hope and despair, good and evil, are strangely intertwined. The setting of the figure in space, the transmission of its movement, pose, gesture, and chiaroscuro modeling, which exposes the relief and expression of the form, are convincingly found by the author, revealing his emotional experiences and thoughts. The sculpture "Apollo", despite its miniature size, evokes associations with the monuments of art of the distant and perfect classics — the powerful torsos of the heroes of antiquity and the Renaissance. This work embodies the melancholy feeling of the leaking form, the disappearing beauty and at the same time the desire to protect, to revive this beauty. In fact, all the artist’s work is marked by the search for harmony and beauty, guided by the great traditions of the past, but certainly understood and interpreted by the artist from the standpoint of our time.
2023
Art-Minsk, Minsk, Belarus.
2022
"SculptFest", sculpture festival, Minsk, Belarus.
Participation in the fair "48th Russian Antique Salon", ArtPort gallery stand, Moscow.
2021
"WildSculpt", exhibition of animalistic sculpture, Minsk, Belarus.
"SculptFest", sculpture festival, Minsk, Belarus.
Art-Minsk, Minsk, Belarus.
2020
"Autumn Salon with Belgazprombank", Minsk, Belarus.
"Art-Minsk", Minsk, Belarus.
2019
"Art-Minsk", Minsk.
Triennale of Young Artists, Minsk.
"Autumn Salon with Belgazprombank", Minsk.
2016
"Autumn Salon with Belgazprombank", Minsk.
"Reconstruction №1" (as part of the "Concept / Art / Confession group"), ArtPort Gallery, Minsk.
2015
"Exhibition dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the Belarusian State Academy of Arts", Minsk.
2014
"Art-sessio", Vitebsk.
2013
"Deja vu Kino. The Gaint movie affiches "(as part of the "Concept / Art / Confession group"), Venice Film Festival, San Servolo Island, Italy.
"Deja vu Kino. The Gaint movie affiches "(as part of the "Concept / Art / Confession group"), Rome Film Festival, Rome.
2012
"Reconstruction №1" (as part of the "Concept / Art / Confession group"), Russian Design Museum, Moscow.
Art-Minsk, Minsk, Belarus.
2022
"SculptFest", sculpture festival, Minsk, Belarus.
Participation in the fair "48th Russian Antique Salon", ArtPort gallery stand, Moscow.
2021
"WildSculpt", exhibition of animalistic sculpture, Minsk, Belarus.
"SculptFest", sculpture festival, Minsk, Belarus.
Art-Minsk, Minsk, Belarus.
2020
"Autumn Salon with Belgazprombank", Minsk, Belarus.
"Art-Minsk", Minsk, Belarus.
2019
"Art-Minsk", Minsk.
Triennale of Young Artists, Minsk.
"Autumn Salon with Belgazprombank", Minsk.
2016
"Autumn Salon with Belgazprombank", Minsk.
"Reconstruction №1" (as part of the "Concept / Art / Confession group"), ArtPort Gallery, Minsk.
2015
"Exhibition dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the Belarusian State Academy of Arts", Minsk.
2014
"Art-sessio", Vitebsk.
2013
"Deja vu Kino. The Gaint movie affiches "(as part of the "Concept / Art / Confession group"), Venice Film Festival, San Servolo Island, Italy.
"Deja vu Kino. The Gaint movie affiches "(as part of the "Concept / Art / Confession group"), Rome Film Festival, Rome.
2012
"Reconstruction №1" (as part of the "Concept / Art / Confession group"), Russian Design Museum, Moscow.
Anton Nichiporuk belongs to the younger generation of Belarusian sculptors. In 2015 he graduated from the Belarusian State Academy of Arts, started to participate in exhibitions in 2016, when entered the creative group Concept/Art/Confession headed by Oleg Shobin. In the exhibition projects "Reconstruction" and "Reconstruction No. I", presented by the C/A/C group in Moscow, several Chinese cities and Minsk, Nichiporuk made a range of sculptures-objects. It was the first significant work of the artist, which revealed his creative giftedness and originality of thought.
The series "Space Child" (2018) was created by the author after withdrawing from the C/A/C group and starting independent activity. He turned to small-scale sculpture. This type of sculptural art is traditionally used for the organization of interior space. Unlike works of applied and decorative art, sculpture not only adorns the environment of human life activity, emotionally enriches it, but also fills it with a deep figurative and ideological content. This work, according to Anton’s words, became the beginning of his intensive formation as a creative personality.
Nichiporuk’s sculptural compositions are dedicated to the theme of a Human in the Space of life, to human birth, formation, feelings, desires, suffering and joy. "A human is a closed book", — the artist says. How to penetrate into his or her internal world, how to capture the moment, when a person opens toward his or her life and destiny? In the composition "Insight" Anton, using figurative means of sculpture, literally opens this "Book" - cuts the torso of the figure. The golden light, coming from its depth, amplifies the emotional sounding of the image, imparts a symbolic sense to it.
Similar methods are used in other works — "Guardian", "Apollo" and "Metamorphosis". The composition "Confluence" is a plastic metaphor, which embodies the artist’s thoughts about a human nature. A human is made of contradictions. There is a strange interlacing of the desire to be happy, hope and despair, good and evil in human nature. The author shares his emotions and thoughts by persuasively positioning the figure in space, conveying its movement, pose, gesture, performing light-and-shade modelling, which uncovers the relief and expression of the form. The sculpture "Apollo", in spite of its miniature dimensions, evokes associations with works of distant and perfect classic art — powerful torsos of heroes of the antiquity and Renaissance era. This work represents a melancholic perception of an elusive form, of a disappearing beauty and at the same time the desire to protect, to revive this beauty. In fact, the artist’s creative activity is marked by searches of harmony and beauty, based on great traditions of the past, which are certainly understood and interpreted by the artist from a present-day perspective.
The search for an individual plastic language, personal style and one’s own self in art continued in other works. The series "Genesis" (2018) is a defining evolutionary phase in the sculptor’s life and art. "It's a story about myself", — says the author. Here the most important thing is the author’s emotional state and his ability to convey this state to the viewer by means of the form, colour, light and shade. Anton interprets the creative concept "of showing the artist’s emotions rather than the material outside world", aspiration to express the life of a soul, proposed by expressionists at the beginning of the XX century, in a persuasive and contemporary manner. Eroticism and specific mysticism of his sculptural compositions "Adamas", "Distortion", "Nodus", "Relict" are based on the tradition of expressionism: ecstatic turnings of torsos, twisted arms and legs, the tangle of male and female bodies form the world splitting into strange fragments, exciting the viewers' fantasy and feelings. These works demonstrate the author’s program task: to set the fixation of modern society on the material aspect of life against some spiritual and emotional energy, which can transform a human being.
The works from the series "Animalium" (2018) are mainly aimed at experimenting with the form, searching for the limits of its maximum generalization, which opens the way for multiple interpretations of the artistic image. It is not animalism in the classical sense of the word with its naturalistic attention to details. The artist dives into the ancient world, the world of animals. He sees the surrounding reality through the eyes of these mythological dragons, prehistoric mammoths, rhinoceroses. This aspect of his creative view provides the author with new artistic impressions and forms. According to Anton: "The aim of each sculpture is the creation of a volume, existing simultaneously as abstract geometry and as a specific image-symbol".
The series "Viatores" (2020 — 2021) is the author’s new work, which he is going to continue in future. Its content and style are close to the genre of "fantasy", which is currently popular in fine arts, literature and cinema. The author becomes absorbed in the world, where the imaginary and the real coexist, creates his own mythology. His characters are wanderers, travelling in time and space, proud winners. However, these are not just some flights of fancy, some dreams of the artist about a noble superhero. These are plastic allegories possessing a deeper and more ambiguous, warning sense. The composition "Saga about a dragon" presents strange transformations of a figure — hands of the hero, who killed the dragon, are turning into dragon wings, threateningly shooting upwards. Anton has already worked on the eternal theme of the fight between good and evil, overcoming the evil, but now the idea of the dualism of the world and human nature, comprising the divine and the demonic, acquired more perfect plastic expression. Only coping with hardships on his way a hero can change and gain spiritual power — "Heavenly guardian", "Huntsman", "Enigma".
Anton prefers bronze as a material for his sculptures. Bronze is elegant and plastic, the beauty of the material itself brings a certain spiritual meaning, while different techniques of polishing and toning allow achieving a complex polychromy and exquisite aesthetic qualities, which is very important for the plastic art of sculpture. Another characteristic feature of the artist’s creative thought is reticence and laconic brevity in a detailed elaboration of works, purity of the form. He believes that excessive verbalism and narrative details are enemies of expressiveness and integrity of sculptural images.
Olga Kovalenko
PhD in Art History
The series "Space Child" (2018) was created by the author after withdrawing from the C/A/C group and starting independent activity. He turned to small-scale sculpture. This type of sculptural art is traditionally used for the organization of interior space. Unlike works of applied and decorative art, sculpture not only adorns the environment of human life activity, emotionally enriches it, but also fills it with a deep figurative and ideological content. This work, according to Anton’s words, became the beginning of his intensive formation as a creative personality.
Nichiporuk’s sculptural compositions are dedicated to the theme of a Human in the Space of life, to human birth, formation, feelings, desires, suffering and joy. "A human is a closed book", — the artist says. How to penetrate into his or her internal world, how to capture the moment, when a person opens toward his or her life and destiny? In the composition "Insight" Anton, using figurative means of sculpture, literally opens this "Book" - cuts the torso of the figure. The golden light, coming from its depth, amplifies the emotional sounding of the image, imparts a symbolic sense to it.
Similar methods are used in other works — "Guardian", "Apollo" and "Metamorphosis". The composition "Confluence" is a plastic metaphor, which embodies the artist’s thoughts about a human nature. A human is made of contradictions. There is a strange interlacing of the desire to be happy, hope and despair, good and evil in human nature. The author shares his emotions and thoughts by persuasively positioning the figure in space, conveying its movement, pose, gesture, performing light-and-shade modelling, which uncovers the relief and expression of the form. The sculpture "Apollo", in spite of its miniature dimensions, evokes associations with works of distant and perfect classic art — powerful torsos of heroes of the antiquity and Renaissance era. This work represents a melancholic perception of an elusive form, of a disappearing beauty and at the same time the desire to protect, to revive this beauty. In fact, the artist’s creative activity is marked by searches of harmony and beauty, based on great traditions of the past, which are certainly understood and interpreted by the artist from a present-day perspective.
The search for an individual plastic language, personal style and one’s own self in art continued in other works. The series "Genesis" (2018) is a defining evolutionary phase in the sculptor’s life and art. "It's a story about myself", — says the author. Here the most important thing is the author’s emotional state and his ability to convey this state to the viewer by means of the form, colour, light and shade. Anton interprets the creative concept "of showing the artist’s emotions rather than the material outside world", aspiration to express the life of a soul, proposed by expressionists at the beginning of the XX century, in a persuasive and contemporary manner. Eroticism and specific mysticism of his sculptural compositions "Adamas", "Distortion", "Nodus", "Relict" are based on the tradition of expressionism: ecstatic turnings of torsos, twisted arms and legs, the tangle of male and female bodies form the world splitting into strange fragments, exciting the viewers' fantasy and feelings. These works demonstrate the author’s program task: to set the fixation of modern society on the material aspect of life against some spiritual and emotional energy, which can transform a human being.
The works from the series "Animalium" (2018) are mainly aimed at experimenting with the form, searching for the limits of its maximum generalization, which opens the way for multiple interpretations of the artistic image. It is not animalism in the classical sense of the word with its naturalistic attention to details. The artist dives into the ancient world, the world of animals. He sees the surrounding reality through the eyes of these mythological dragons, prehistoric mammoths, rhinoceroses. This aspect of his creative view provides the author with new artistic impressions and forms. According to Anton: "The aim of each sculpture is the creation of a volume, existing simultaneously as abstract geometry and as a specific image-symbol".
The series "Viatores" (2020 — 2021) is the author’s new work, which he is going to continue in future. Its content and style are close to the genre of "fantasy", which is currently popular in fine arts, literature and cinema. The author becomes absorbed in the world, where the imaginary and the real coexist, creates his own mythology. His characters are wanderers, travelling in time and space, proud winners. However, these are not just some flights of fancy, some dreams of the artist about a noble superhero. These are plastic allegories possessing a deeper and more ambiguous, warning sense. The composition "Saga about a dragon" presents strange transformations of a figure — hands of the hero, who killed the dragon, are turning into dragon wings, threateningly shooting upwards. Anton has already worked on the eternal theme of the fight between good and evil, overcoming the evil, but now the idea of the dualism of the world and human nature, comprising the divine and the demonic, acquired more perfect plastic expression. Only coping with hardships on his way a hero can change and gain spiritual power — "Heavenly guardian", "Huntsman", "Enigma".
Anton prefers bronze as a material for his sculptures. Bronze is elegant and plastic, the beauty of the material itself brings a certain spiritual meaning, while different techniques of polishing and toning allow achieving a complex polychromy and exquisite aesthetic qualities, which is very important for the plastic art of sculpture. Another characteristic feature of the artist’s creative thought is reticence and laconic brevity in a detailed elaboration of works, purity of the form. He believes that excessive verbalism and narrative details are enemies of expressiveness and integrity of sculptural images.
Olga Kovalenko
PhD in Art History