Alvaro Neelix
Paintings
Artist Statement
In my works, I am looking for a way to open up inner experiences and joys. Looking at one of my works is like looking at a maze that propels you to search for your own way.
My paintings tell about the complexity of the existential perception of the world. From childhood, people are surrounded by rules, laws, and social norms of behavior. While they appear to be in continuous and constant motion, racing and moving through life, people often remain lonely. The real feelings and experiences are hidden deep inside and only discussed on a psychotherapist's couch.
Through my paintings, I also talk about internal devastation. Some people keep this devastation with them throughout their life. In contrast, others avoid it at all costs, considering it to be unbearable to deal with. And then some will succumb to the emptiness and fall into depression.
My works are designed to openly demonstrate those hidden experiences that we carry through our social lives. They show freedom of expression, freedom of feelings, freedom to be yourself and not be ashamed of it. Indeed, art pushes the boundaries of the ordinary, allowing you to embody fantasies, to find yourself on the edge of an abyss or in a mystical forest. Art is precisely what helps us not to suffocate in the humdrum of life.
Biography
Alvaro Neelix (Andrey Voronin) is an artist, an industrial designer, and a decorator. Born in Moscow, Alvaro started painting at the age of five. He graduated from the Moscow State Stroganov Academy of Industrial and Applied Arts, the oldest Russian institution in its field.
In 1991, he founded the “Art Master” company for the production of unique luxury items and the restoration of antique furniture. In 1998 the artist launched and managed the "Exclusive Backgammon" project where, working together with M.Stavitskaya, he created frescoes and luxury items. For several years, Andrey attended the fine arts studio of the famous Russian artist Yuri Rogozin.
Andrey has developed his unique style in paintings. Working primarily with oils and acrylic paints, the artist uses his life experiences to convey his distinctive vision of the world around him. His large-scale canvas often depict human figures and faces in vivid colors with broad expressive brushwork.
Since 2000, the artist has participated in numerous art fairs and exhibitions, among the most recent ones “Heritage and Traditions” organized by the Union of TSH DPI (12/2020), “On the Sunny Side,” and “Discovery of Aesthetics” at Milliart Gallery (2020), ART RUSSIA Contemporary Art Fair, and International Art Forum (2/2020). His works are in private collections in Russia and other countries and in the Russian Academy of Arts and the Moscow Artists’ Union, of which he is a member.