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Why have I written this book?
My name is Carles Gomila, and I am an artist and co-founder of Quarantine Events.
Within this book I will explain everything I learned at Costa Dvorezky’s workshops, giving some order to all the notes and photographs I took.
When you meet someone you admire a lot, you almost always imagined him taller than he really is. As if the scale of veneration and physical height were linked. That’s why getting to know a star in person can be a disappointment.
Well, I can say that this did not happen to me with Costa Dvorezky because the guy is quite impressive. He is a vigorous man, strong and with a powerful gaze, even with jet lag.
Costa spoke with moderation as if it fatigues him to waste words, and everything about him suggested that he was a fighter. Shortly after our first handshake, he showed that he also knew how to have fun with the same vividness with which he paints.
What a great guy!
You see, in the workshops, the good vibes are not started by the participants, as could be expected. Well, sometimes it does, but it’s unusual that it happens that way. The one who lights the fuse is the teacher. It’s as if he is giving a starting shot, something that simply happens because it has to happen. And without being a romantic guy, I would say it’s a magical moment.
…Sometimes it’s a gesture of complicity during a demo or a few extra glasses of wine after dinner. But there is always a spark that makes everyone realize that the adventure has started and that time flies.
At that moment everyone feels at home and surrounded by friends they didn’t know they had.
Magical, as I told you.
And now, knowing Costa a little better, I’ll tell you why I wrote this book: because I want you to know this brilliant mind a bit better. I want to leave a testimony of his philosophy of life, in addition to his peculiar way of destroying rules and stirring freedom.
I will also talk about his method, of course, but do not take it too seriously. I’m sure he would not want it that way. Because more important than his technique is the way his head works, the way he makes decisions and lives painting. How he takes risks. And I will try, as far as possible, to reveal all his wisdom in this little book.
All these good vibes are thanks to you, Costa. Thank you for making it possible.
Carles Gomila
Menorca, December 2018
INTRODUCTION
Dvorezky Planet
The universe of art is not monolithic. It’s an infinite space full of stars, planets, and phenomena. And each planet has its own physical laws and civilizations.
Unfetter your mind, because everything fits in this universe.
In my previous books —and especially Mark Tennant’s— I talked about the need to plan paintings and the importance of discipline.
One can come to think that planning and discipline are indispensable rules for good painting in this universe. But no, that only works on some planets.
In the Galaxy of Figuration, there are countless stars around which planets with unique light, gravity and horizons orbit. And there we find Planet Dvorezky, a small and bright sphere marbled with Burnt Sienna and Indigo. It does not look like any other and you’d say it’s going its own way.
On Planet Dvorezky there are few laws, but well set. A free and prosperous place where the past is respected without renouncing the present. Where the error is not dismissed but retained because it’s the best construction material. A place where nobody aspires to be perfect, just good enough. There is only one non-negotiable thing: bureaucracy and boredom are reasons for expulsion here.
One just does not come to this planet for organizing subtlety discussion committees.
Costa Dvorezky smashes right in front of you a handful of physical rules that seemed unalterable on your planet. And you know what? On his planet, this works perfectly and smoothly.
“I do not teach or indoctrinate, I relate”. ‘Essays’ quote. Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592).
But Planet Dvorezky is not your planet, and its ambassador made it very clear to us: ”I will not teach you anything, I only share my experience”.
And it’s a relief, for once, finding someone respectful and without the dark intention of colonizing you. Its ambassador just wants you to learn everything about his planet in order to enrich yours, but in no way does he want you to lose your identity.
This is because your planet, believe me, is unique and precious. It will be good to learn how they manage in other places, but home is home. And in your home, it’s your rules.
Never forget that, because not all planets come in peace.
Who is Costa Dvorezky?
Costa Dvorezky was born in Russia in 1968 and obtained his superpowers at the Art College and the Academy of Arts in Moscow, paying for his studies by illustrating books for children.
He confesses that sometimes he feels as if he lived eternally in school, in the sense of not having responsibilities and that his only duty is to paint and have fun. He wants to take advantage of that feeling, extend it throughout his whole life. Not in vain does he claim to have the best job in the world because he does what he wants to do all the time.
No cherubs nor shepherd romances. Nothing to do with looking for beautiful subjects; only good painting. Solid as a rock, radiant, vigorous, and powerful. Costa Dvorezky loves painting over any subject: he paints without fear, without seeking applause, without the need for arguments and without the pretense of showing anything to anyone.
His thing is a vital need, and it’s absolutely sacred.
For him painting is the celebration of a lifestyle emancipated from the tyranny of ego and market whims, it’s an unconditional commitment to individual expression and strength.
“I’m not going to teach you anything, I just share my experience”. Costa Dvorezky.
A teacher is a travel companion
Art teachers’ teachings tend to be like iron objects: perfectly solid, with a single specific function and an unalterable form. That piece of iron may be very useful for the teacher, but it’s probably a piece of junk for his students. Costa’s teachings, on the other hand, are like a molten iron casting capable of filling any mold and solidifying in its rightful place and shape. The principles he teaches can aid any person because they are flexible and universal.
His lessons do not try to make you fit into a method but suggest a way of thinking about painting that opens up an infinite number of possibilities as for personal expression. This saves you time so you can find your own path, your own way, and learn things by yourself… as it should be!
The only purpose that Costa Dvorezky has is to get you to think pictorially. And, not less important, think for yourself, and find that doorway to your mind so that you may unlock the channels of expressive freedom. How many teachers do you know who do this?
Training
The balance between discipline and expression
Costa states that the best time he spent in his life was watching, fascinated, as his great grandfather painted horses. It was that grand old man who lit the flame by putting a pen in his hand for the first time. Blessed instrument. So the first creature Costa immortalized in his life was a horse. Costa Dvorezky today is who he is —he says— thanks to this.
His training at the Art College and the Moscow Academy of Arts was very demanding. He studied a lot and very intensely. Tons of anatomy and structure! However, he knew how to use this discipline in his favor, adding power to his expressive nerve.
He studied in a very different Moscow from the one nowadays, highly competitive and with severe filters of academic permanence which tested him hard every two months. The classes were very conservative and focused on the deep understanding of structure, and Costa admits that this has given him incredible agility, to such an extent that he states that learning to observe and express structure is the smartest thing you can teach to an artist.
In no way does he reject the learning method he received; In fact, he praises it and he’s deeply grateful for the excellent training received. But when finishing his studies, his restless mind needed to paint different subjects from a less rigid and academic perspective. Over time he has reached a delicious balance where academic rigor builds his figures without numbing them, preserving their spirit. It’s as if they were wearing academic perfume in its proper amount, without getting soaked.
Because, let’s be honest, we’re all tired of always seeing the same thing.
Tired of seeing how academicism is the kryptonite of individual expression as if excellence were a curse that cuts the wings of those artists most able to fly. But it doesn’t have to be like that! That’s why it’s so refreshing to discover an artist who loves academic discipline without compromising his freedom.
Costa Dvorezky is living proof that freedom of expression does not have to be at odds with discipline. Moreover, Costa convinces you that discipline is the key that opens the doors of personal expression. His painting is precise as well as immediate. Freshness is not at odds with precision and correctness. The balance is possible, that is the Costa brand.
Everything you have been told about the Russian Academy is not true
Costa says that the Russian school is not as strict as everyone believes. It’s training is traditional, of course, but in no way strict. Let’s see why.
There is a generalized prejudice that all artists trained in a Russian Academy paint in the same way, because they are inculcated with very strict standards on how they should do it and end up confined. But that’s flatly false. In fact, there was total freedom of execution and the only requirement was that the construction was solid. In other words, “do it however you want, but do it well.”
It’s true that some voices claim that academic education is too intellectual and tight and that there is a risk of castrating expressive capacity. A view that academia should perhaps renew the pedagogical agenda so as not to generate automata without artistic ambition. However, despite the fact that the discipline was very real, Costa reveals that the Russian school promotes versatility and technical freedom which is light years away from that currently taught in many ateliers.
Costa Dvorezky graduated in the ’90s, that decade when the whole world took a turn because of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, with a great impact for culture. There was a lot of constructive drawing in its classes, something he now likes —but, he admits, did not enjoy when he was studying—. However, that discipline helped him to understand human shapes. They did not learn too much about drawing and painting in terms of technical execution, but at a philosophical level, in the way they observed the construction of great artworks.
His technical training was a means to an end, and not a goal itself. In fact, in the Russian Academy, the students were not taught painting technique. Instead, they painted their own way. The training was based on how to observe and build something as observed, but nobody told you how you should do it. They guided you towards a concept and the teachers did not stop to give you instructions on how to solve all those ideas technically; that path was explored by each student.
Knowing the principles of cooking is more powerful than memorizing a handful of recipes. For this reason, Costa gives a lot of importance to the concept: how you approach things, how you do it, why you do it, and what you’re going to be satisfied with. And that’s a strictly intellectual aspect of painting that is beyond the reach of any recipe, palette or procedure.
Costa feels lucky he had great teachers, a stroke of luck he found again at the Academy of Art. He didn’t fully understand the advice he was given during the time he was studying, but rather later, when he realized how important what he was taught was.