Alexander Rozhin. Dmitry Ikonnikov. Monograph. 2010

The new works of Dmitry Ikonnikov, created over the past seven years, show a radical change of direction for the Moscow artist. His previous work involved the accumulation, interpretation and transformation of real impressions; an arsenal of descriptive and expressive techniques, based on various schools and traditions of both Russian and foreign art of the twentieth century, whereas his new works are defined by an artistic elitism and sensuality – towards an internal, sensual appreciation of the surrounding world. Paul Valéry wrote about this as “a life force and energy that implies sensuality, abundance, and the predominance of natural rhythms; the inexhaustibility of internal resources, a belief in one’s own abilities and an ecstatic joy in abusing them.” 

Dmitry Ikonnikov, through the breadth of his perception and his deeply personal feeling and understanding of the nature of art, as well as his professional experience and unarguable talent, has achieved a remarkable freedom of expression, and created a unique figurative language, which is marked by the harmonic invariance of the form and content of his work. 

The poetics of the artist’s works are driven by an intuitive, deeply penetrative vision of things, in which the past is reflected deeply, and an invisible premonition of the future is hinted at. He is an extraordinary improviser, able to harness recognisable and real details and attributes of motifs, scenes and subjects, with his own internal interpretation of life. In essence, these are the compound expressions of philosophy, poetry and metaphor meticulously tested in practice; the pure “creation of the spirit” in a perfect artistic form that intrigues even the most mature and demanding connoisseurs by teasing their memory and conscience with unpredictable images.

Alexander Rozhin 
Member of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Arts, Chief Editor of the ‘Tretyakov Gallery’ magazine, Vice-Principal for Scientific Work in the Surikov Moscow State Academic Art Institute
2010