The Architect's Canvas: Andrey Muntz and the Pursuit of Artistic Freedom

"Just as some great pianists are incapable of improvisation, there are artists incapable of abstraction, which in itself, like everything in the world, can be completely different – genius, talented, and mediocre. For me personally, painting is precisely and primarily improvisation, it's jazz, it's dancing with a brush in hand." Andrey Muntz

Andrey Muntz is an architect and artist. He was born into the family of the renowned architect Vladimir Oskarovich Muntz (1903-1974), who, together with Lev Rudnev (1885-1956), was the author of several iconic Soviet-era buildings, such as the M.V. Frunze Military Academy on Devichye Pole, the Ministry of Defense building on Frunzenskaya Embankment (1938-1951) in Moscow, and the Government House of the Azerbaijan SSR in Baku.

In 1947, in collaboration with architect Viktor Ass (1911-1998), he designed a residential building for the Ministry of Defense, in the attic of which L.V. Rudnev's studio was located, and where architects working with him, mostly from St. Petersburg, settled. It was in this house that Andrey Muntz was born in 1954. Vladimir Oskarovich himself was born into the family of the famous St. Petersburg architect Oscar Rudolfovich Muntz (1871-1942), son of the Consul General of the Netherlands in Odessa. In 1896, Oscar Muntz graduated with a gold medal from the Imperial Academy of Arts (L.N. Benois's workshop), made the traditional academic trip through Germany, Austria, France, and Italy, and remained in Russia. He was the author of numerous buildings in St. Petersburg, the Main Post Office building in Moscow (in collaboration with Leonid and Alexander Vesnin), a professor at the Academy of Arts, and a member of the editorial board of virtually all publications devoted to architecture that were published at that time. From a cultural and historical point of view, his main constructions are the building of Russia's first power plant, the Volkhov Hydroelectric Power Station, and the Main Step-down Substation of the Volkhov Hydroelectric Power Station in St. Petersburg (1918-1926).

Thus, the choice of profession for Andrey was partially predetermined. He graduated from the Moscow Architectural Institute in 1977 and then worked at Mosproekt-1. Andrey Muntz is a laureate of architectural competitions, a member of the Union of Architects, the Union of Artists of Russia, the International Federation of UNESCO Artists, and the International Art Foundation. He is engaged in architecture, painting, and teaching. Residential complexes in Moscow and Kaliningrad, numerous country houses in the Moscow region have been built according to his projects, and he is the author of memorial complexes at the Novodevichy, Donskoy, and Danilovsky cemeteries.

"For me, composition, color, and subject matter are almost irrelevant – what's important is to capture the passion that possessed the artist during the process of creating the work." Andrey Muntz

Painting is another sphere of his activity, perhaps the most beloved. He began his experiments in the field of abstract painting in the early 1990s, having previously been fascinated with printmaking. The profession of an architect implies mastery of drawing, painting techniques, and generally all the tools of an artist – composition, color, perspective, anatomy. In the 19th century, the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts graduated architects with the title of artist-architect (as written in Oscar Muntz's diploma), later they began to write: architect-artist (as for Vladimir Oskarovich). Both of them drew beautifully. The family archive contains about two hundred pencil portraits of St. Petersburg architects made by Oscar Rudolfovich over almost half a century, from the 1900s to the 1940s. Andrey's diploma simply states: architect. Many architects eagerly draw, among them are excellent graphic artists and painters. What makes them pick up a brush or pencil? It can be the search for form, image, the search for harmony, the desire to understand the structure of the world, the thirst for relaxation.

Andrey Muntz has an obvious answer to this question: for him, engaging in painting is a search for freedom. Abstract expressionism is an art of self-expression, one of the main conditions of which is inner freedom. Achieving freedom – both personal and artistic – requires enormous inner work. Free improvisation, expression of accumulated impressions and emotions form the basis of his paintings.

Andrey Muntz adheres to the method of intuitive creativity, where the artist's will is disconnected as much as possible, and the subconscious reigns.

The works created by the author are distinguished by the brightness of emotional experiences. The artist views color as the most powerful means of influencing the viewer. He tries to use color as freely as possible, is not afraid of sharp combinations, actively introduces black, which gives the color palette strength and depth. He paints quickly, surrendering to the creative impulse, and the paintings read as a joyful intoxication with the very process of creation.

Most often, a painterly improvisation remains a spontaneous abstraction. But sometimes, at the final stage, the painting undergoes logical refinement. The composition is built up, given a rigid tectonics. The painterly element acquires an internal structure. Axes, rhythms, compositional nodes are highlighted, which betrays the hand of an architect. But pure geometrism in the style of Mondrian or late Kandinsky is not close to the artist. He tries to avoid the dictatorship of the straight line and right angle. In a clearly constructed geometric abstraction, Andrey lacks the lightness and energy of pure painting. He finds himself drawn to op art, which uses optical illusions, the work of Vasarely. In some abstractions, one can trace the development of the French artist's ideas: depending on the focus of vision, the eye catches figures and spots of various graphic outlines. Experiments are also conducted with painting techniques. Muntz paints with oil, acrylic, sometimes in combination with pastel, on canvas, oilcloth, cardboard, iron. He loves this alchemy of art, when canvases, primers, paints turn into something immaterial – emotions, sensations, something even close to trance. Not all paintings are painted at once, in a single burst. Some abstractions – constructed, precisely calibrated – are painted from a sketch. Sometimes the artist uses a computer for sketches. Computer sketches and hand-executed sketches turn out very different.

There is no single line in Andrey Muntz's work. In each piece, he sets new challenges for himself. The artist tries to experiment in different directions: in the field of pure abstraction with a strong emotional resonance, combines abstraction with images of the real world, combines several fundamentally different imagery layers. For example, a painterly improvisation that sets the emotional tone of the painting is overlaid with outlines of the real world, outlines of objects can be seen in it, sometimes conditionally interpreted landscapes, still lifes, animals, people appear. In the real world, the most beloved, of course, is architecture. There are quite a few paintings combining abstraction and architecture. These are memories, dreams, and other worlds. There is usually something surrealistic in such paintings. In them, the artist tries to approach the viewer's subconscious in a different way.

With such a system of creativity, the factor of chance acquires great importance. This chance is extremely valuable for the artist.

"There are everyday people and festive people. And likewise, I believe, one can evaluate painting. The title of Hemingway's famous novel 'A Moveable Feast' is quite applicable to the occupation of painting, and the paintings that surround me in the studio, I perceive as a feast that I created myself. I paint bright pictures to live a bright life." Andrey Muntz

It is in this chance that he sees the manifestation of subconscious images. He calls his method controlled chance and says that he resonates with Picasso's words, who believed that if you know in advance what you will draw, then there's no point in drawing, drawing becomes boring. In Muntz's paintings, there is always the possibility of different interpretations. The viewer is involved in the creative process, imagining the painting in the direction suggested by the artist. The viewer, like the artist himself, catches archetypal images in the colorful element. The dialogue with the viewer is very important for the artist. Abstract painting implies active creative participation of the viewer. Examining the painting, imagining it, trying to discern the outlines of the real world, submitting to the rhythm of color spots and lines, the viewer participates in its creation. One could say that the final result largely depends on the creative abilities of the person looking at the painting.

Each work has a title, some of which may seem paradoxical. It can be some random phrase taken out of context, a quote. The titles are not intended to evoke any specific associations; they also involve a game with the viewer. But sometimes the titles of the paintings deepen their meaning.

Thus, "A Moveable Feast" of course brings to mind Hemingway and that beautiful Parisian life he described. And "The King Takes a Walk in Any Weather" hints at both the non-obligatory nature of painting pursuits and their regal nature, and, of course, at the famous painting by Alexander Benois, with whom Andrey's grandfather was well acquainted, first as a student and then as a colleague of Leonty Nikolayevich Benois. The "Benois Cabinet," designed by Leonty for himself, subsequently belonged to Oscar Muntz, survived the blockade in the abandoned apartment, moved to Moscow, and accompanied Andrey from birth. Thus, this title of someone else's painting turns out to be multilayered and very personal.

"I started with etching, possibly because etching is equated with jewelry art – also fine work, metal, etching. Besides etched line, I mastered reservage, then moved on to drypoint, monotype, unique graphics. In painting, I also try to experiment with different techniques, canvases, primers, and surfaces. In general, I believe that for a true artist, experimenting should be lifelong." Andrey Muntz

Andrey Muntz's painting is connected with the powerful traditions of the Russian avant-garde. His works actively incorporate the experience of the discoveries of the 1910s-1920s by Kandinsky, Chagall, Lentulov, Malevich. It's not about direct comparison, but about understanding the figurative-plastic system of outstanding masters. And yet, the connection with the avant-garde is not the main thing. "My concept is the absence of a concept. I try to feel like a free artist; the search is important to me. I try to be open to the world, open to new ideas. In abstract art, the consciousness of infinite freedom of choice that opens up before an artist unbound by any canons, dogmas, and attitudes is intoxicating," says the artist.

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