Painter, you are not an orator! Therefore, shut up and write!
Salvador Dali
Airbrushing appeared as the transient fashion in the 1950s, has crossed the borders of countries and continents covering the whole world and settling down almost everywhere by 1990.
The new genre of art has identified two basic directions. You can find a commercial idea and show it as an excellently executed illustration with special effects and texture, where the plot is taken from a computer. Or you can use an object which lives its own emotional life having the concocted
foundation and ideas taken from anywhere!
Many people who paint cars not only love their cars, but try to understand the art of airbrushing itself. The car is an extension of the human body, his muscles and psyche. A painter-airbrusher takes the car and its owner as a whole. The picture is a direct reflection of the inner world of the owner.
Motorcyclists have played a significant part in the development of airbrushing in Russia. They always have been and remain the most active followers of their "iron horses" airbrushing. The first samples of airbrushed motorcycles began to appear in the late 1980s.
By mid-1990s (when there were no competitions in airbrushing of cars, only the idea of such a contest was in the air), such competitions as "Crazy Bike" have been actively carried out at various Russian biker festivals. The great interest of visitors was attracted by the nomination "Best picture on a motorcycle tank".
Then the nomination was divided into "The best motorcycle tank of the man`s motorcycle" and "The best motorcycle tank of the lady`s motorcycle".
Since the middle of 2000s airbrushing has become very fashionable in Russia and some neighbouring countries – such as Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and in the Baltic. Motorcycle world (not to mention cars) has also been changed. It has become prestigious to have a motorcycle "fleet". So, the behavioral model of bikers copied by motorcyclists in the old days (such as savage image created by Marlon Brando and "easy rider" by Dennis Hopper) has also undergone changes.
The motorcycle has been and remains the symbol of absolute freedom. A man overrides it, moves and the flow of wind kicks him in the face …
A number of cult artists and studios appeared at the beginning of airbrushing in Russia, have made a great contribution into development of the new genre. As usual, thousands of people draw, but there are just a few founders and individuals created the landmark works defining the face of the Russian airbrushing. There are also some young but very dynamic artists, designers and studios. The projections can be delusive. But there are all the preconditions that the development of airbrushing in Russia will come to formation of 10-15 powerful structures, rendering several other related services except airbrushing, while the rest will be "rotating" around without remaining
idle though.
One of the first Russian artistsairbrushers became Ilnur Mansurov painted cars in 1996-1997 in Moscow. He has always liked to embody beautiful pictures on cars, making them vivid and voluminous. His strong feature as an artist is ability to paint delicate features like eyelashes at portraits of people without a stencil. The best praise for Mansurov is the exclamation of a spectator: "Wow! Looks like alive!". Ilnur likes to create drawings using ethnic details and to process paintings of different civilizations in an abstract style. He presents them so that the elements of different cultures create a unique image of a car, which can be an interesting topic for discussion.
Another no less venerable Russian artistairbrusher is Aydar Valeev, whose works feature "super graphics" and a unique vision while using stencils. His creations stand out against others and are distinguished by the special author`s technique and high professional level, particularly in the style of biomechanics and high-tech.
The works of the artist Yury Koltygin (Tyubik) are great. These works are characterized by subtle approach to drawing, the artistic intuition, the ability not only to copy the image in any style (such as realism, or painting a motorcycle in Gzhel style), but to interpret it to the owner, making it unique. Studio called No Hands was founded in 2004 in Balashikha town near Moscow.
It was established by Alexei Belkin (Martin) and Vadim Merzlyakov. The Martin`s credo is to surprise with dynamics, expression, graphics, innovative approaches, new technologies, which in his opinion are the future of airbrushing. The slogan "No Hands" reflects perfectly the favourite style of the studio. The masters prefer to perform light and high-tech work, with the process of creation from two days to four weeks. Implementing these ideas the car starts to be associated with the drawn plot. Martin seeks to embody a new topic on each car fully reflected the style of the artist.
"No Hands" believes that modern people can be impressed with the picture on an expensive spectacular car.
The outstanding figure of the Russian airbrushing is Maria Kalinina. The woman artist in the Russian airbrushing is a rarity. Airbrushing on cars and motorcycles in Russia of 2009 is a "gentlemen`s club" what is a bit upsetting.
Maria has drawn since she was a child. Before coming to airbrushing, she learned a lot, graduated from the Moscow School of Artistic Crafts (special subject: metal painting) and the University of Culture. First she tried airbrushing in 2002 offering her services to a service center. Since then, the cooperation with the service center has been stable, despite constant moving of the company founded the Tax-Art studio. The quantity of cars and motorcycles painted by Maria in 2009 is more than 100 pieces. One of the basic Maria`s principles in airbrushing is that the picture should harmonize with the design of the car, accentuating its style and brand’s history. Starting with simple drawings of animals, Kalinina has developed her own recognizable style, which features predominated artistic intuition, impetuosity, painting of unusual themes in the genre of alternative mysticism.
Andrey Nosov came to airbrushing in 2003 from the tattoo business, where he was engaged since the early 1990s. In addition to tattooing Andrew has painted body art pictures on the bodies of models, so he knew the principles of airbrushing.
Tattoo experience helped him to master airbrushing. For example, most people who ordered the painting of their cars at the initial stage of his becoming an airbrusher were his clients from tattoo or from this circle. But, according to his own opinion, Nosov overgrew tattoo. The kind of work performed in airbrushing captivated him so much, that he stopped the tattoo business and founded his own studio called Aeromania. He believes that each car (like the human body) has its own "skeletal" structure, its "muscles", plastique.
Airbrushing helps to accentuate the "anatomy" of a car, its decorative beauty and sculptural forms. For example, there was an interesting plot implemented by him in 2008 when he worked on the image of a lily with elements of vegetable ornament. Drawing a lily, Andrey applied his arsenal of tattoo technique in combination with the delicate work of airbrushing. In 2007 Andrey became famous thanks to his painting of Mercedes SLK Coupe in Khokhloma style.
But at the end it is worth mentioning that many things are exaggerated in Russia, because people do not know that the trend seems to be super actual to them is the ancient history on the West. Previously airbrushing was done mostly for well-off people. Airbrushing has been very popular on yachts, boats and airplanes ... Airbrushing today is the mass fashion, which is an excellent anti-theft system. And anyone hardly could predict where everything eventually comes...
Roman Egorov
Photoreport
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