Elena Sivishkina’s personal exhibition “The Blue Horsewoman of the Yellow Steppes” was opened in the exhibition hall of the Volgograd Museum of Fine Arts. It is significant that it was the first truly spring day – warm, sunny and joyful. A very suitable day for the exhibition of such a bright and original artist as Elena Sivishkina.
There was a full house in the exhibition hall, artists, teachers, journalists, photographers, collectors and a lot of people interested in art came to the opening. Wonderful vibrations reigned throughout the hall: color (the palette of colors in Elena Sivishkina’s paintings seems to be limitless) and sounds of jazz – from the piano by Dmitry Arutyunov, a wonderful pianist and improviser.
There were, of course, speeches. Director of the Mashkov Museum Varvara Ozerina introduced Elena Sivishkina as a famous artist of Volgograd, a member of the Union of Artists of Russia, a teacher at children’s art school No. 1. She also emphasized that the exhibition of Elena Sivishkina is already the fifth joint project of the Volgograd Museum and the Seven Winds Charitable Foundation, and that this cooperation has a seven-year history.
The founder and president of the Seven Winds Foundation, Nikolai Malygin, came to the microphone with luxurious bouquets of flowers, and in his short speech said that the artist Elena Sivishkina is “a very special face of the Volgograd art world: unique, bright, unpredictable”.
The art curator of the exhibition, Lyubov Yakhontova, in her speech recalled the interest that Elena Sivishkina’s work aroused at Moscow art salons in the 1990s and how one of the sophisticated collectors told her about Elena’s works: “Undeniable talent. But I would like to look at the paintings of this young artist in twenty years … Can she not spill her talent? Which way will she go?”
It must be admitted that not many artists of the generation that came to the visual arts in the 90s managed to maintain their aspirations, not give up their vocation and find recognition. Elena Sivishkina is one of the few who could do it. She did not betray her stylistic preferences and beliefs. She stubbornly followed only herself and found her own artistic way.
After speeches and applause, the audience continued to get acquainted with the exhibition. A queue lined up for the artist for her signature in a freshly published album. The famous (and oldest today) Volgograd artist Gleb Vyatkin did not make public speeches, but examined the entire exhibition in detail and formed his opinion: “So, I don’t know who can be put next to her from this generation …” He approached Lena, hugged her and uttered only one word: “Worthy!” The exhibition began to live its own unpredictable life.
