Igor Ozhiganov: paintings, biography of the artist, reviews

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The artist Igor Ozhiganov was born on January 3, 1975 in the city of Yoshkar-Ola of the Republic of Mari El. The family of the future master had nothing to do with the world of art: his father worked as an electronic engineer, and his mother was a school teacher.

Since childhood, Igor had a keen interest in the culture and mythology of Ancient Russia, and for one of his birthdays he was presented with a set of reproductions of paintings by the legendary Slavic artist Konstantin Vasiliev.

Early years

Igor's first childhood works were copies of Vasiliev's paintings, but with age, the artist begins to add more author's vision and unique details to his personal work, sharply distinguishing his work from the works of other masters of "northern" painting.

In his school years, Igor constantly takes part in various art competitions, as well as creative events, where he successfully acts as a decorator and costume designer for his classmates.

Factory work

In 1991, Igor graduated with honors from the secondary school of Yoshkar-Ola and alonemoved to Tolyatti, where he entered the Volga Technological Institute of Service. After four years of study, the young man is sent for an internship at the Volga Automobile Plant.

A talented student is almost immediately noticed by the management of the plant, and Igor gets a permanent job.

After working for several months as an assistant technologist, Igor decides to move to Moscow and get a job as a designer in one of the companies - this job would allow him to combine his artistic vocation and technological skills.

Work as a designer

In 1999, Igor Ozhiganov moved to Moscow, where he got a job in one of the prestigious studios engaged in the development of artistic design of logos for various companies and institutions.

The next ten years of the artist's life were spent in improving the skills of working with graphic technologies. Ozhiganov perfectly mastered the methods of working with a graphic tablet, mastered computer programs in vector graphics.

While working in a design company, Igor took part in the creation of industrial design, helped to develop the interior design of residential premises.

Subsequently, Ozhiganov was transferred to work in a more modern department that develops web-design, as well as creating printing materials for various industrial companies.

Igor Ozhiganov's passion for Slavic mythology begins to run counter to the work he needed to do, and in 2008year, the artist decides to return to Yoshkar-Ola and engage in creative work professionally.

Creative career

After returning to his homeland, Ozhiganov decides to focus on his career as an artist and begins to actively develop new material. The master devoted a long time to the study of Russian folk ornament, the principles and canons of depicting folklore characters, and also delved into the mythological and mental culture of the Russian north for a long time.

A large number of works created by Ozhiganov during that period were not published due to the author's dissatisfaction with their quality and artistic level.

The early period of Ozhiganov's work is a copy of the works of Konstantin Vasiliev, and Igor copied not only the plots, but also the poses of the characters, background elements or decorative patterns. The works of these years have practically not been preserved, and Igor does not consider it necessary to show the remaining copies to the general public.

After gaining a lot of skills in the field of technological design, Igor begins to experiment with the synthesis of electronic technologies and painting, trying to create works using a computer and a graphics tablet.

Experimental paintings by artist Igor Ozhiganov can be found on old forums in topics created by the master himself.

Present

The period from 2014 to the present has become the most productive for the artist, when not onlythe level of his creative skill has significantly increased, but thanks to the successful sale of works, the financial situation of the master has improved, which allowed Ozhiganov to devote more time to working on each of the paintings.

Since 2016, the artist completely leaves the traditional style of work and begins to create his paintings using graphic technologies, which instantly affects the quality of the master's paintings.

Slavic mythology series by Igor Ozhiganov, launched by the master in 2016, has gained incredible popularity among fans of the ancient culture of Russia and the mythology of the northern countries.

Since 2017, the artist has become widely known as a recognized master of painting and a connoisseur of northern mythology. Ozhiganov's works are actively bought, published on frequently visited sites and in communities dedicated to the culture and history of Ancient Russia.

Themes of works

Igor Ozhiganov's paintings are devoted to the themes of Slavic and Scandinavian paganism. The master depicts the gods of the ancient pantheon, illustrates scenes from myths, tales and legends of the peoples of Russia and northern countries. The artist is interested not so much in domestic or battle scenes as in the culture, customs and mythology of the northern countries. Igor often depicts the gods of Scandinavia, Ancient Russia and nearby pagan peoples in his paintings.

Legends of Belogorye, Scandinavia, the B altic States, Russia are reflected in the beautiful works of a talented master.

Creative Features

A characteristic artistic feature of Igor Ozhiganov's paintings is their gloomy tone. Igorworks in sepia, which not only successfully conveys the atmosphere of ancient times, but also emphasizes the originality of the artist, his special author's style.

Usually, Igor depicts one or two characters in the picture, preferring portraiture and rarely illustrating battle scenes of past eras.

Despite the lack of a pronounced military theme, almost all of the artist's paintings are dedicated to heroes, heroes or gods belonging to the heroic epic of the countries of the north.

Internet Popularity

Igor Ozhiganov's paintings are widely known thanks to various online communities in social networks. The artist's work is very popular among representatives of folk culture, paganism, neo-paganism, as well as traditionalists and nationalists.

At first Igor exhibited his paintings on various websites and blogs. At one time, Ozhiganov even used the social network VKontakte, where he created a community to popularize his work on the Internet.

At the moment, both the page and the artist's community have been deleted by him, since Igor transferred all the rights to distribute his works to companies that distribute his paintings.

Popularity

Later, when the artist's work reached a significantly new level, various companies involved in the distribution of art objects became interested in his work. Well-known Rodnoverie concerns "Perunitsa", "Veles" actively distribute Igor's work, make official copies of his works for sale, releaseclothing and household items designed with his direct participation.

The master's works became widespread after various craft workshops began to use his paintings as sketches, which transferred Igor Ozhiganov's paintings to leather, plastic and metal products. Later, this type of activity acquired a large-scale commercial character, and the artist even created a number of works specifically for their subsequent publication as covers for leather diaries, notebooks or the front surfaces of bags and sacks.

In addition to collaborating with various workshops, the artist also illustrates historical and artistic books, draws covers for albums of musical groups.

Criticism

At the beginning of his creative career, the artist was criticized for allegedly "the Nazi theme of his works", but Ozhiganov said that he was not an adherent of the ideology of Nazism and was not responsible for the actions of those individuals who use his paintings to promote banned ideologies.

Currently, the artist is one of the famous Slavic masters, along with Sergei Bordyug and Konstantin Vasiliev.

Ozhiganov's works are highly valued not only by historical and artistic communities, but also by ordinary fans of his art.

Among "Slavic artists" Igor Ozhiganov is considered a unique master, whose work is distinguished by a special style and original vision of both the character and the plot of the picture.