You may have seen the large concrete or marble sculptures of Alexei Kazantsev just off Maxwelton Road at Midvale.
The sculptures are certainly difficult to miss, as many of his pieces are 8 or 9 feet tall. Still, they are harbingers of the largesse that is surely coming to Kazantsev. With this sculptor being in such demand in several parts of the country, Kazantsev is certainly an artist to watch in 2007.
When Kazantsev talks about his sculptures his descriptions are similar to those of a holy man. Sacred, spiritual, God and classical are words that reverberate with him and his art.
Kazantsev emphasizes the influence his studies of early Christian art, the African art of Easter Island and the Greeks had on his work. When he was studying at the Moscow State Art Institute, his teachers wanted him to study the physical form and proportion.
He insisted on studying religious sculptures and early forms of art, however.
“I needed first to find the spiritual side of art, before I could make anything important,” he said.
“What is invisible, what you can’t see inside the sculpture is more important to me. It is not just decoration, it is connected to that invisible second world,” he said.
Born near Moscow, his Russian Orthodox religious roots have left an indelible mark and have led him to the liturgical influences in his work.
Large casts of the Virgin Mary, Joseph and their mule remain in his garden outside his studio. They are surrounded by figures of angels, and other various seraphim or mythological figures that all lend a decidedly Renaissance quality to the fields surrounding his home.
Kazantsev lives and works in Clinton, where he moved with his family from Louisiana in 2001. He named his current studio AK Sculpt.
Since 1995 he has completed several large commissions, including one in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood for The Epicenter Building at N. 34th Street and Fremont Avenue.
There Kazantsev installed four, 8-foot-tall, concrete sculptures of the Roman deities Neptune and Saturn — the gods of water and art — and Mercury and Venus — the gods of commerce and love — on the north side of the building.
He is currently working on another large commission for a condominium project in San Francisco the subject of which has not yet been released to the press, but which is greatly anticipated for its proximity to the Giants’ baseball stadium. Kazantsev is just the fellow who could blend baseball with Greek mythology and make it gloriously grand.
The large scale, iconographic sculptures are what seem to keep Kazantsev in demand. The majority of his work has been commissioned by individuals, churches and corporate patrons and includes sculpture gardens, a baptismal font, the aforementioned marble sculptures of Mary and Joseph for a Catholic church, a relief for Cave Michelangelo in Carrara, Italy and a trumpet-playing angel that stands atop the mausoleum of Louis Prima, the famous New Orleans jazz musician.
“I like to mix my theological knowledge into my work and make it complex,” Kazantsev said.
“A lot of contemporary art is just like a mediocre bottle of wine with a pretty label. There is nothing great inside,” he said.
Kazantsev works mostly in concrete because it is inexpensive compared to other sculpting materials.
But he also uses Carrara marble, which he says is la pietra santa, or “the sacred stone.” According to Kazantsev, the translucent crystalline structure of the marble attracts light and gives the finished piece an inner life and radiance.
In the spring, Kazantsev will unveil the sculptures for the San Fancisco project and art lovers will be able to see his first major work for 2007.
“I strive to create art that creates harmony within the mind and heart of the viewer,” Kazantsev said.
You can visit Kazantsev online and get a sneak peak at his latest works at www.aksculptstudios.com.
Patricia Duff can be reached at 221-5300 or pduff@southwhidbeyrecord.com.
