Dmitry Nikolaevich Mertvetsov
Artist – stone carver. Born in 1964 in Novosibirsk, into a family of a scientist and a doctor. His grandparents on his father's side were geologists, and as a child, he often went on geological expeditions with his grandfather during the holidays. His grandfather, Pavel Efimovich, was passionate about working with stones. As a child, Dmitry spent a lot of time sculpting with plasticine. He enrolled in the geology-geophysics faculty at Novosibirsk University. After graduating, he was assigned to the Institute of Geology and Geophysics in Novosibirsk Academgorodok, where he spent many years on expeditions. In every spare moment, he eagerly carved and polished ornamental stones. In Irkutsk, he worked in a stone carving workshop, became fascinated by plastics, and was particularly drawn to polychrome mosaics. He created a variety of works from semi-precious stones, including figures of birds, animals, people, fish, and more. He produced the famous series "Dinosaurs," which gave its name to an entire direction in stone carving – "Paleoanimale." Not every artist has the fortune to become the founder of a movement. He takes on many commissions across various genres. He considers the theme of military-historical miniatures in the technique of blocked sculpture from natural semi-precious stones to be his true direction. The figures are created at a uniform scale of 1:10 from colored stones, wood, and metal, which requires him to deeply delve into the field of historical science known as "Uniformology." Today in Russia, in addition to two recognized schools of stone carving – the St. Petersburg and Ural schools, one can speak of the emergence of a new, third – Siberian school of stone carving skills, and Dmitry Mertvetsov becomes its worthy representative.
From the book "The Knights of the Perkhina Order" Published by: The Memorial Fund of Karl Fabergé. St. Petersburg. 2011.
