All exhibitions
Destiny. Wood
Alexander Cheglakov's solo exhibition
October 15 - November 8, 2020
Rating: 6+
The Ekaterina Cultural Foundation provided the project of Alexander Cheglakov "Destiny. Wood" to the audience as part of the program of personal exhibitions of contemporary Russian artists.
Alexander took an interest to creation of unusual interior items about five years ago. He began making compositions from the wood of dry fallen trees: bird feeders, nesting boxes, candle holders, clocks and much more.
Uniqueness and originality of Alexander's works were appreciated by his friends - for example, by a world-famous pianist Denis Matsuev, violinist and conductor Vladimir Spivakov, producer Pavel Lungin, actor of stage and screen, producer Vladimir Mashkov, producer Pavel Vhukhrai, actor and Chief Artistic Director of the Variety Theater Gennady Khazanov.
"All of a sudden I noticed this special talent in Alexander: to see a new life in pieces of wood. My collection has a clock made by him from the saw cut piece of a big birch tree.
I believe this exhibition to be rather unique. It gives the opportunity to show the beauty lying under the feet, to pick it up and fill it with soul. All honor to him!"
Pavel Lungin
The uniqueness of the artistic style of Alexander is in the fact that he "does not abuse the nature" but emphasizes its primeval beauty adding only minor accents. Alexander developed his own wood processing methods and techniques. He transforms dry, inconspicuous trees into amazing masterpieces. Sculptural compositions are created from thoroughly selected fragments of trunks and branches, which can be as old as 200 years. It's noteworthy that, according to the artist himself, he prefers to use "the worst possible trees" for the best result. Such trees are shaped unusually, they have cracks and curves, with "patterns" left on the wooden surfaces by forest creatures.
Alexander mainly searches for materials for his new works mostly in winter. On a snow mobile with a sled attached thereto he brings fragments of trees found in a forest. As a rule, they spend years in this lifeless condition exposed to winds and frost, rain and burning sun.
Works of Alexander Cheglakov represent original compositions. The artist uses different materials to make them: wood, corals, bronze figures of animals bought at flea markets of various countries. And all masterpieces always feature candles. Combination of incompatible elements - fire and wood - makes the style of the artist especially distinctive. Candle fire captures the eye, emphasizes the wooden surface texture, irradiates warmth and love generously put by the Master into his unusual works.
Alexander Cheglakov participated in many Russian and foreign exhibitions. Thus, his works were exhibited in the Imperial yacht club on "Strelka"; his Christmas sculptural composition perfectly complemented the festive atmosphere at the residence of the British ambassador on Sofiyskaya embankment in Moscow. To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Victory over fascism, Alexander created an obelisk from the artifacts found in February 2020 in the forests where the bloody battles for Moscow had taken place at. Those artifacts made up the sculptural composition that was subsequently shown at the exhibition of the Creative Union of Artists of Russia and included in the catalog of the exhibition. The story of the obelisk's creation and the photographs depicting how the artifacts had been found were published in a university's journal "US-RUSSIA".
Sculptural masterpieces of Alexander decorate home interiors of famous people - both in Russia and abroad, in Miami and Los-Angeles.
About the Artist
Alexander Cheglakov has been a member of the Creative Union of Artists of Russia since 2018. Owner of several patents in the medical sphere.
• 1987 - graduation from the Moscow Medical Dental Institute named after N. A. Semashko, specialization - "doctor of stomatology".
• 1993 - foundation of a dental clinic in Moscow that is still successfully working.
• 2017 - participation in the Family Festival Abracadabra Pop Up in Moscow.
• 2018 - participation in the competition for admission to the Creative Union of Artists of Russia. Following the casting, he was accepted to the union.
• May 2019 - participation in "Antifactori".
• October 2019 - participation in the exhibition "INDECOR MOSCOW 2019".
• October 2019 - was successfully selected and accepted to the Moscow Export Center established by the Moscow Government, MEC membership allows him as an artist to participate in international exhibitions representing Russia.
• 25 October - 03 November 2019 - personal exhibition in ALPERT Gallery.
• Several works were exhibited at the residence of British ambassador to celebrate Christmas holidays 2019 - 2020.
• 9 - 18 February 2020 - participation at the exhibition dedicated to the holiday Tu bi-Shevat (New Year of Trees) at the Jewish Religious and Cultural Center "Zhukovka" upon invitation of the head of Jewish communities Alexander Moiseevich Boroda.
• 25 September - 11 October 2020 - exhibition at the state museum of Sergey Andriyaka.
• 4 - 18 September 2020 - participant of the international online exhibition Maison&Objet from the Moscow Export Center.
• 2020 - member of the panel of judges of the expert council of the All-Russian contest "Family - the soul of Russia" devoted to the All-Russian holiday "the Day of family, love and fidelity".
• 2020 - included in "Top-100 best representatives of Russia" in the line of applied and decorative arts.
