"Watercolor World of Valentin Utkin"

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   ""Watercolor World of Valentin Utkin" - an exhibition of watercolor works by architect Valentin Ivanovich Utkin, dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the author.
   The exhibition will feature works, mainly made during the 60s of the "Khrushchev thaw". A surprisingly fruitful period for creative art has not been fully studied. The combination of many factors led, indeed, to the creation of art disinterested and real. In the young architectural environment of that time, a phenomenon still unrecorded in our historical consciousness arises - such a specific type of art as watercolor sketches of architects.
 Valentin Ivanovich stood out from the general environment somewhat. “Life is beautiful ...” - Valentin Ivanovich liked to repeat with or without reason. He stood out for his inner freedom, knowledge of literature and art, vitality, wit, and, most importantly, uncontrollable admiration for the beauty of nature and architecture.
   The watercolor tradition continued into the 60s and 70s. And then, with the advent of new technologies, it began to gradually leave. Now that the computer draws and designs and prints, the need for the ability to draw is gone. Architecture moves from the territory of art to the field of technology. Modern architects no longer paint watercolors. And no one will think and draw like that anymore. Therefore, now these works acquire a special meaning.
 The watercolors presented at the exhibition have been gathering dust in the dark for several decades, and now they want to show people."

Ilya Utkin