Natella Voiskunski
The Maximalism of a Minimalist
Pavel Nikiforov was called “a great down-and-out of Russian art”. He was well known, but no one would have called him popular; neither was he successful. A non-conformist artist, Pavel Nikiforov was one of the noted representatives of Soviet underground art in its Moscow conceptual variant. Fame and popularity did not visit his home – in fact, he had no home for decades of his hectic life, which was full of non-stop creative activity, philosophical speculations about art, alongside a complete neglect of his own comforts. He did not seem to seek proper appreciation for his art works – his aim Павел Никифоров. 1970-е
was a determined self-expression. Nikiforov seemed never to expect apprec-
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iation or an adequate – to what? to whom? or to whose concept? – perception and evaluation of his art; instead, he sought maximal self-expression with an
Pavel Nikiforov. 1970s Photograph
open-hearted sincerity and to the extreme of his creative abilities. He was still young when he showed his artwork for the first time – the exhibition took place in the city of Gorky (now again called Nizhny Novgorod) in the rooms of the Philosophical Society chaired by his elder brother Rudolf. Since then and to the end of his life Nikiforov remained interested in philosophical speculations, making his art “stuffed” with signs and symbols bearing special philosophical meaning. He strived always to do something special: he would take a large piece of hardboard, cut it, cover it with leucas – a mixture of marble dust and glue and tempera – so that when hardened it gained different nuances of a certain colour that could not be changed. Thus it can be said that he turned anew to the iconpainting technique, substituting hardboard for wood panel. More than once Nikiforov turned to classical Christian subjects, transforming them to the maximal extent of abstraction (“Trinity”, “Life-giving Cross”, “Above the World”, “Candle”). Nikiforov’s triptych “Trinity” was represented in the album “Russia and Christianity” (1988) – the first “perestroika” publication dedicated to the 1000th anniversary of Christianity in Russia; the album
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