Nikolai Polissky is the father of the Russian Land-Art

Polissky Nikolay Vladimirovich ("Uncle Kolya") is the father-founder of the Russian Land-art, which, he said, "left the snowmen on the slope". He was born in 1957, graduated from the Mukhinskoye School, became the only Muscovite in the Leningrad art group "Mitki" and until 2000, he was quietly engaged in traditional landscape painting. But at the beginning of the new millennium, the very thing happened - the birth of Russian land art on the hillside near the village of Nikola-Lenivets in the Kaluga region.

Snowmen

And it all started with snowmen. The first major project of Polissky with the involvement of an entire army of local peasants revealed the potential of a simple Russian landscape. Abandoned to anybody unnecessary space has changed - now a lot of snowmen climbed the previously empty slope, marking the opening of a new era of Russian monumental art. The villagers rejoiced, gladly rolled snowballs, and the city snobs declared: snowmen are the swansong of Polissky. But it turned out exactly the opposite.

Hay-straw

Soon the author's concept was ripe - a rethinking of historical architectural forms and making them in their own village from improvised materials.
And the hay in the village is enough. But to make of it by definition can only be a haystack. But what a lot! A real tower of Babel. The technology of laying the hay suggested to the builders that it can be designed in the form of a ramp-ziggurat. In the construction of the tower was occupied by the whole village - the first to pull up local drunks with braids, then all the rest. This marked the beginning of a new authorial trend - the construction of archaic forms from no less archaic materials. Above the tower laughed in Russia - but it was noticed abroad, and it raced - Polissky and his assistants from the village became active participants in international exhibitions of contemporary art. Peasants of the Russian outback visited for the first time abroad.

Confession

Since 2002, the art objects of Polissky began to creep along the Earth. In every city or country, the artist first of all sought to know what materials are typical for the area. So its objects became something new, and at the same time habitual anywhere in the world, organically fitting in a city or a natural landscape. So, in the wine region of France, he was put a massive column of grapevines, a gate from a rainy forest - in Perm, a kind of cubic crows' nest of branches of willow - in the industrial zone of Moscow.

Double-headed

In the program, which includes the use of archaic forms, the totem poles of the "Borders of the Empire" object, installed all the same in the village of Nikola-Lenivets, could not have been better. Quite ironically, look two-headed birds, scattered over dilapidated logs - rather vultures than eagles. Part of this object was included in the permanent exhibition of the Erart Museum in St. Petersburg.

The artist appealed to the coat of arms once more - the project "Firebird" was shown there in the Shrovetide in 2008.

Archstation

In 2006, Nikolay Polissky became the founder of the festival "Archstoyanie", held twice a year on the bank of the river Ugra. The founders of the festival claim that the venue of the festival coincides with the place of the historical Standing on the Ugra River, hence the name. And the element "arch" can be interpreted in different ways: as "architecture", "archetype", "archaic". All these interpretations will find a place at the festival. Most of the festival's objects are interactive - they can climb, ride, even jump. Among the local attractions there is the biggest trampoline in Europe, 50 meters long. Recently, one more part of the project has been opened: children's Arhstoyanie, where educational and gaming stations work. Lend-art began to gain popularity in Russia thanks to this festival. Annually along with other authors in the Arhstoyaniya takes part himself Nikolai Polissky. The artist's works attract the attention of the participants and visitors of the festival.

Park Nikola-Lenivets

There, in the park that arose as a result of the festivals around Nikola-Lenivets, there are still several Polissky structures. The "universal mind", a collection of giant columns of wood and metal, leading to a wooden megamond, is stylized as an ancient temple architecture. "Selpo", which arose on the ruins of an abandoned shop, also looks like a temple of an unknown religion. When building Nikola-Lenivtsa, Nikolai Polissky, an artist, tries to think like an architect and town planner. There are little similarities here, either Eiffel, or the Ostankino TV tower (Media Tower), the Georges Pompidou Center (Bobur), the lighthouse on the river bank, in place of the first snowmen and a tower of hay. The artist turns ruins and wastelands into large-scale works of art. Its objects do not live long - the aesthetics of destruction is as important to the author as the energy of creation. And some works were created to burn in the festive fire.

New art

Land art as a trend in art emerged relatively recently, but many experts predict a great future for him. It is not just a form of sculpture or architecture, it is the art of living environment, whose goal is to change the outlook of a modern urban person. Nikolay Polissky successfully copes with this task, and the army of those who are not indifferent gathers to his village every year. The artist often works in series or creates interpretations of old works (especially often repeated in his work by snowmen, towers, gates) and throws them around the world, thanks to which more and more people learn about him and are imbued with the spirit of his creativity. Polissky is not just one of the most famous artists of Russia, but also one of the world's most famous land-art creators.