Igor & Marina
We have always been interested in the greatest mystery of the universe — time itself. Our life experience tells us that events occur in a certain sequence, but time is not always divided into past, present and future. Some physicists go even further, suggesting that time never runs out. It simply does not exist, it is an illusion. Instead of viewing time as a straight line, we can use our memories as a source for thinking about the future. It is very important. The human ability to travel through time in the imagination is the reason why we can do many things, such as planning the future or creating works of art.
In our opinion our new show, The Plexus of Time, perfectly illustrates our approach to the idea of ever-changing time, as in a single transparent capsule, the past, present and future are connected here, creating a sense of timelessness.
Biography
Working as a husband-and-wife team, the Russian-born duo Igor Kozlovsky and Marina Sharapova collaborate on each painting. Igor and Marina were rigorously taught the skills of the Old Renaissance Masters within their academic training at Mukhina Academy of Art and Design in St. Petersburg, Russia and learned to combine ancient and modern techniques with fluidity. As a result, the paintings are influenced by, and recall, a diverse spectrum of artists and eras: famous avant-garde figures like Chagall, Malevich, and Kandinsky as well as fifteenth-century Russian religious painters. Marina possesses an excellent subtle touch for realistic drawing and is capable of creating new images on the basis of the works of older artists, particularly those of the Italian and Dutch renaissance. Igor’s specialty is a subtle sense for color, a wonderful appreciation for the tactile nature of paint, canvas, and wood, and an intuitive feel for how to play with abstract images.
In each of their canvases we sense a narrative implied, but we always fall short of piecing it together—it’s like waking up from a dream. And just as dreams synthesize all manner of seemingly disparate material into cohesive experiences, so Igor and Marina blend the modern and traditional, the representational and the abstract—and indeed their own divergent personalities—into each finished painting. The figures in the artists’ paintings look at once contemporary and historical—they might be modern people garbed in costumes of the past; they might be past people plunged into the present. With their finely tuned sense of all that is enigmatic, seductive, and dreamlike in life, Igor and Marina wholeheartedly embrace their surreal perspective by forcing us to enter their invented new world.
Education
1985 MFA, Mukhina Academy of Art and Design, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Awards
2006 The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, New York, NY
2015 Adolph & Ester Gottlieb Foundation, New York, NY
Selected Two-Person Exhibitions
2023 The Plexus of Time, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, St. Helena, CA
2022 Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL
2021 Caldwell Snyder Gallery
2020 Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL
2019 Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL
2018 Flexible Parallels, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco
2017 American Academy of Arts, Visiting Artist, Chicago, IL
Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL
2016 RJD Gallery, Sag Harbor, NY
2015 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2014 KM Fine Arts Gallery, Chicago, IL
2013 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, St. Helena, CA
Campton Gallery, New York, NY
2012 Campton Gallery, New York, NY
Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
2010 Campton Gallery, New York, NY
2009 Wall Street Journal, The Durst Organization (sponsor), New York, NY
Thomas Masters Gallery, Chicago, IL
2008 Campton Gallery, New York, NY
Norteastern Illinois University
Thomas Masters Gallery, Chicago, IL
Campton Gallery, New York, NY
2007 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Caldwell Snyder Gallery, St. Helena, CA
Thomas Masters Gallery, Chicago, IL
2006 Campton Gallery, New York, NY
Thomas Masters Gallery, Chicago, IL
Selected Corporate Collections
International Corporate Art (ICArt), Olslo, London, Miami • Regent Seven Seas Cruises, U.S.A. • The Colburn Family, U.S.A. • Mrs. Joyce Chelburg, Chicago, IL • Martha Stewart, New York, NY • S&R Foundations, Wachington D.C. • Newmark Knight Frank, New York, NY • Hendrix Allardyce, Los Angeles, CA • Sara Lee Corporation, New York, NY • The Durst Organization, New York, NY • Hollywood’s producers and actors, Los Angeles, CA • Bristol Meyers Squibb Company, U.S.A. • Alinea Restaurant Art Collections, Chicago, IL • Potash Corporation, U.S.A. and Canada • Governor of Tokyo, Japan
Press
PRESS
Selected Artworks
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Education
1985 MFA, Mukhina Academy of Art and Design, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Awards
2006 The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, New York, NY
2015 Adolph & Ester Gottlieb Foundation, New York, NY
Selected Two-Person Exhibitions
2023 The Plexus of Time, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, St. Helena, CA
2022 Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL
2021 Caldwell Snyder Gallery
2020 Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL
2019 Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL
2018 Flexible Parallels, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco
2017 American Academy of Arts, Visiting Artist, Chicago, IL
Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL
2016 RJD Gallery, Sag Harbor, NY
2015 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2014 KM Fine Arts Gallery, Chicago, IL
2013 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, St. Helena, CA
Campton Gallery, New York, NY
2012 Campton Gallery, New York, NY
Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
2010 Campton Gallery, New York, NY
2009 Wall Street Journal, The Durst Organization (sponsor), New York, NY
Thomas Masters Gallery, Chicago, IL
2008 Campton Gallery, New York, NY
Norteastern Illinois University
Thomas Masters Gallery, Chicago, IL
Campton Gallery, New York, NY
2007 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Caldwell Snyder Gallery, St. Helena, CA
Thomas Masters Gallery, Chicago, IL
2006 Campton Gallery, New York, NY
Thomas Masters Gallery, Chicago, IL
Selected Corporate Collections
International Corporate Art (ICArt), Olslo, London, Miami • Regent Seven Seas Cruises, U.S.A. • The Colburn Family, U.S.A. • Mrs. Joyce Chelburg, Chicago, IL • Martha Stewart, New York, NY • S&R Foundations, Wachington D.C. • Newmark Knight Frank, New York, NY • Hendrix Allardyce, Los Angeles, CA • Sara Lee Corporation, New York, NY • The Durst Organization, New York, NY • Hollywood’s producers and actors, Los Angeles, CA • Bristol Meyers Squibb Company, U.S.A. • Alinea Restaurant Art Collections, Chicago, IL • Potash Corporation, U.S.A. and Canada • Governor of Tokyo, Japan
Working as a husband-and-wife team, the Russian-born duo Igor Kozlovsky and Marina Sharapova collaborate on each painting. Igor and Marina were rigorously taught the skills of the Old Renaissance Masters within their academic training at Mukhina Academy of Art and Design in St. Petersburg, Russia and learned to combine ancient and modern techniques with fluidity. As a result, the paintings are influenced by, and recall, a diverse spectrum of artists and eras: famous avant-garde figures like Chagall, Malevich, and Kandinsky as well as fifteenth-century Russian religious painters. Marina possesses an excellent subtle touch for realistic drawing and is capable of creating new images on the basis of the works of older artists, particularly those of the Italian and Dutch renaissance. Igor’s specialty is a subtle sense for color, a wonderful appreciation for the tactile nature of paint, canvas, and wood, and an intuitive feel for how to play with abstract images.
In each of their canvases we sense a narrative implied, but we always fall short of piecing it together—it’s like waking up from a dream. And just as dreams synthesize all manner of seemingly disparate material into cohesive experiences, so Igor and Marina blend the modern and traditional, the representational and the abstract—and indeed their own divergent personalities—into each finished painting. The figures in the artists’ paintings look at once contemporary and historical—they might be modern people garbed in costumes of the past; they might be past people plunged into the present. With their finely tuned sense of all that is enigmatic, seductive, and dreamlike in life, Igor and Marina wholeheartedly embrace their surreal perspective by forcing us to enter their invented new world.
Biography
Press
We have always been interested in the greatest mystery of the universe — time itself. Our life experience tells us that events occur in a certain sequence, but time is not always divided into past, present and future. Some physicists go even further, suggesting that time never runs out. It simply does not exist, it is an illusion. Instead of viewing time as a straight line, we can use our memories as a source for thinking about the future. It is very important. The human ability to travel through time in the imagination is the reason why we can do many things, such as planning the future or creating works of art.
In our opinion our new show, The Plexus of Time, perfectly illustrates our approach to the idea of ever-changing time, as in a single transparent capsule, the past, present and future are connected here, creating a sense of timelessness.
Igor & Marina
With the exhibition "On the Shore of the Sky" we continue our journey into the dream-like space where our distant memories take shape. All the books we read, the performances we saw, the music we heard, the places we visited, all this turns into impressions. Throughout human life, these impressions are accumulated, superimposed on one another, forming, so to speak, geological layers in our subconscious.
Our memories give rise to vague images that are subsequently transformed into a subject for the painting. The goal of this show is to unlock the door and take viewers through to the other side. White peacocks roam freely here, old tapestries come to life, you can talk with a mechanical person about the meaning of life and meet the heroes of the famous novel.
Welcome to the world of our imagination, to the ends of the earth, to the Shore of the Sky!
We have always been interested in the greatest mystery of the universe — time itself. Our life experience tells us that events occur in a certain sequence, but time is not always divided into past, present and future. Some physicists go even further, suggesting that time never runs out. It simply does not exist, it is an illusion. Instead of viewing time as a straight line, we can use our memories as a source for thinking about the future. It is very important. The human ability to travel through time in the imagination is the reason why we can do many things, such as planning the future or creating works of art.
In our opinion our new show, The Plexus of Time, perfectly illustrates our approach to the idea of ever-changing time, as in a single transparent capsule, the past, present and future are connected here, creating a sense of timelessness.