Artist and writer Maxim Kantor

The artist Maxim Kantor was able to fix the attention on his canvases long before the sunset of the Soviet era. As a writer, thinker and philosopher, he became known to the reading public after the collapse of the USSR. Let's take a closer look at this extraordinary man.

How did it all start? Biography Facts

Cantor Maxim Karlovich was born in 1957. The childhood of the future artist passed in an intelligent Moscow family, the circle of which was the stars of the first magnitude from the spheres of literature, philology, philosophy, poetry, painting and music. Such a habitat could not have had a decisive influence when a young man faced the problem of choosing a life path.

Professional education Maxim Kantor received in the Moscow Polygraphic Institute for the specialization of "portrait painter." However, he categorically did not want to follow the path of socialist realism .

Independent Artist

In the most remote years of the "stagnation period," Maxim Kantor attracted people who did not want to stay within the framework of official art. Already in the mid-eighties around him formed a stable group of like-minded people with similar aesthetic and vital principles. Thus, Maxim Kantor was headed by the famous creative association of independent artists "Red House". His work is a success and becomes known far beyond the borders of the Soviet Union.

As a rule, they are characterized by a bright unusual imagery, expressive texture and a free arrangement of spaces, volumes, lines and planes. Exactly what is usually considered an artistic avant-garde. In the late eighties the artist was able to leave to continue his creative work in Europe. His works are purchased and are in the exposition of many galleries of the world. In their ratings, the artist Cantor is highly rated. Maxim can be interesting for the public both in Russia and abroad.

Literary Creativity

Maxim Kantor proved to be equally successful as a writer. In the great literature he came in the era of the so-called "dashing nineties", when a radical change took place in the traditional Soviet way of life. And this despite the fact that the artist was engaged in literary creation for a long time, evenly distributing his creative energy between painting and the artistic word. His first collection of short stories was called "The House in the Wasteland", he was released in 1993.

A significant public response was sparked in 2006 by Maxim Kantor's novel The Drawing Tutorial. This two-volume book, nominated for several prestigious literary prizes, touches upon a number of significant problems of Russian life and raises profound philosophical questions of understanding reality.

No less interesting for the reader was the recently published novel "The Red Light." In theaters of Russia, Kantor's plays "The Case from Practice" and "The Evening with the Baboon" are successfully staged.

Publicism and social activities

An individualist in nature, Maxim Kantor does not like to be considered as a certain political groupings and aesthetic directions. However, he can not remain indifferent to the tensions and political turbulence that the Russian society lives by. On many events and tendencies of public life Maxim Kantor responds with short and biting publicistic articles and essays.

Significant resonance in the thinking part of the population caused such publications as "Scoop and a Broom", "Slow Jaws of Democracy" and "Empire inside out." Maksim Kantor also pays much attention to publications of his thoughts in social networks. In the virtual space, there are constantly zones of turbulence around the materials published by him.