DiDi Gallery presents an exhibition of Alexey Novikov — a famous Moscow nonconformist artist and sculptor. Being a professional artist, A. Novikov consciously resorts to primitivization, refers to such areas as naive and splint. His work reads a deep connection with folklore and folk art, sometimes even a fairy tale. We see the figures of ordinary peasants floating in the sky; we see a scene from the village life against the background of the mirage emerald sky; we see how a simple human life unfolds before us in a broken perspective.

In fact, this simplicity reveals the originality of Alexei Novikov as a master. The artist-experimenter, he mythologizes reality, brings us to a different way of perceiving everyday plots. In his world, wooden and panel houses acquire some special humanity and become important participants in the action, and ordinary people turn into iconic heroes of eternal stories.

Alexander Yakimovich, art historian: “He is a professional, but he writes as an amateur artist. That's great rarity. Moreover, here you can see the unique ability to remain “naive”, even being trained in an academic school and a quite sophisticated master of painting”.