Dronov Mikhail Viktorovich. Sculptures. Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts (Sculpture Department, since 2007) Honored Artist of the Russian Federation (2016) Member of the Union of Artists of the USSR, Russia (1983)
Mikhail Viktorovich DRONOV was born in Moscow in 1956.
He passed a serious academic school of the Moscow Art Institute named after V.I. Surikov, who graduated in 1980 from the Faculty of Sculpture. He studied in the workshop of Professor Mikhail Baburin. The serious classical school of the Surikov Institute and close acquaintance with modern Western art contributed to the early formation of the sculptor's personality and talent, his plastic thoroughness.
Since 1983 - member of the Union of Artists of the USSR, in 1990 joined the Union of Artists of Russia.
He was awarded the silver medal of the USSR VDNH (1985), the 1st Prize of the 1988 Quadriennale of Sculpture in Riga, the diploma "The Best Work of the Moscow Art Museum" (1988), medals of the Russian Academy of Arts (1995, 2001, 2006).
The sculpture of Mikhail Dronov is in the collections of the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, the Moscow Gallery "LES", the Royal Netherlands Museum, in private collections in America, England, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Russia.
M. Dronov is a participant of many exhibitions held in Moscow, St. Petersburg, London, Milan, New York, Chicago, Amsterdam, The Hague. Among them are the most significant: "Step to Bronze" and "The Power of Water" (State Russian Museum, 2008), "The Eighties. Russian Art" (gallery "Peace and Color", London, 2007), exhibitions dedicated to the 250th anniversary of the founding of the Russian Academy of Arts ("Manege" of Moscow and St. Petersburg, 2007), "Expression of the Spirit" (Gallery "House of Nashchokin" in the Museum of Revolution, Moscow, 2007), "Inhabited Islands" (State Tretyakov Gallery, 2006), the International Festival "Sculpture`98" in The Hague, "The World of Sensual Things in Pictures" – the end of the twentieth century (Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, 1997). A large-scale personal retrospective of M. Dronov took place in the Russian Academy of Sciences (2006).
Mikhail Dronov, one of the leading Russian sculptors, a full member of the Russian Academy of Arts, belongs to the generation of the "eighties" who had the opportunity to reform Russian plastic during the time of historical changes. The figurative world of works is subordinated exclusively to the freedom of one's own attitude and self-expression. The sculptor works freely in easel and monumental sculpture, in round plastic and relief, masterfully owns the genre of portrait, multi-figure composition, rare in sculpture still life.
A great professional, he easily moves from realistic-illusory modeling to generalized forms. Fluent in the language of plastics, Dronov creates his own artistic world, whimsical and diverse. His works, full of irony and grotesque, are based on the relationship between reality and bizarre fantasies. allowing you to look at ordinary objects and phenomena from a completely unexpected, unusual point of view. Everyday things are inspired by a jokingly emotional author's vision: bronze felt boots, a bronze paper boat, a huge stationery button. Drones freely transform nature, causing a variety of associations. Sculptures: "The Old King", "Night Guests", "Capriccios" are eternal characters, characterized by such a reading of the image. Strict, verified, brought to geometricism, the form is enriched by the beginning of the game, the author achieves ambiguity, deep emotionality and acute expressiveness. Encrypted, ambiguous images of Dronov are the author's plastic reflections on life, history, and himself. The character, familiar to the viewer with the narrative of the image, often develops into a sign, a symbol that requires special understanding. It is remarkable that the artist does not limit himself to any one happily found manner. So, for example, sculptures: "Saint Peter", "Crucifixion" or "Dancer" are quite traditional and close to European plastics.
It is impossible not to mention a somewhat unusual plastic experiment in which Mikhail Dronov performed in tandem with Alexander Taratynov.
The original of Rembrandt's largest canvas is kept in the Netherlands at the Rijksmuseum. The canvas is a group portrait of the Amsterdam Guards, which was supposed to decorate the building of the new headquarters of the "Rifle Society". The full title of the picture is "The performance of the rifle company of Captain Frans Bunning Kok and Lieutenant Willem van Reitenburg". The more common name of the canvas is "Night Watch".
The sculptural composition "Night Watch 3D", based on the famous Rembrandt painting, was created by the authors with all seriousness: first they studied historical documents in order to reproduce the garments and weapons of the 22 heroes of the canvas with maximum accuracy, and then spent five years and 10 tons of bronze to make them voluminous.
After being exhibited at the Cherry Forest Art Festival, the composition was bought by the Dutch, which served as a recognition of her artistic competence, and she returned to Amsterdam again. There is a second copy that managed to visit the "garden" exposition of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow and is now in the park of the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.
Museum collections:
Collection "de Heus-Zomer". Netherlands.
Collection of the Queen of the Netherlands Biatrix. Netherlands.
Peder Ekegardh, gallery "Ekegardh". Maastrich, the Netherlands.
The State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow, Russia.
The State Russian Museum. Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Museum of Art. Perm, Russia.
Museum of Art. Pavlodar, Kazakhstan.
Art Museum. Riga, Latvia.
Art Museum. Daugavpils, Latvia
Art Museum. Yaroslavl, Russia.
Museum "Wurt". Kunzslau, Germany.
Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts. Yekaterinburg, Russia.
Magnitogorsk City Hall of Arts. Magnitogorsk, Russia.
Dnepropetrovsk Art Museum. Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine.
Siberian Far Eastern Branch. Academy of Arts of Russia. Krasnoyarsk, Russia.
Kutaisi Art Gallery. Kutaisi, Georgia.
Nizhny Tagil State Museum of Art. Nizhny Tagil, Russia.
Kutaisi Museum of Art. Kutaisi, Georgia.
Kosmodemyansky Art Museum. Kosmodemyansk, Russia.
Izmail Museum named after A.V. Suvorov. Izmail, Ukraine.
The State Central Museum of Musical Culture named after M.I. Glinka. Moscow, Russia.
The Bolshoi Theatre Museum. Moscow, Russia.
Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Moscow, Russia.
Mikhail Dronov Honored Artist of the Russian Federation 
