Andrey Bartenev (born in 1965) is a graduate of the Krasnoyarsk State Institute of Art with a major in stage directing. Since the 1980s, he has been a resident of Moscow, where he creates his walking sculptures and presents performance projects, such as Love Couture!, Smile Institute Illustrations Art Festival, as well as Sleeping Beauties, Mineral Waters, Underwear for Africa, Botanical Ballet performances. A participant of the 2007 Venice Biennale and co-presenter of the Russian Pavilion with Olga Sviblova. More than 30 thousand people visited Andrey Bartenev’s retrospective exhibition Say: I Love You! at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Since 2016, Andrey is the head of the Here, at Taganka Gallery of the Union of the Exhibition Halls of Moscow, a lecturer at art universities in Russia, USA, Great Britain, and other countries. He also holds numerous master classes. Winner of the 2018 Alternative Miss World Contest. The pageant was founded by Andrew Logan, a British sculptor and jeweler, in 1972.
Andrey Bartenev created the 2015/2016 Winter cover of the BoscoMagazine. Bartenev describes his experience as a “rewarding task of combining family values and a festive ambience”.
Let’s Smile!
Winter 2015. Photo, digital composition.
For the cover of BoscoMagazine Andrey Bartenev created an archetype of a family. The piece is illuminated by the sunny joy that is characteristic of his work. All the characters on the cover are different: the “mom” is wearing a Russian style headdress, the girl is dressed as a little Christmas tree, the boy is dressed in candy-style accessories, the “dad” is dressed as an Indian nobleman. What unites them all? A simple smile. This family perfectly illustrates the idea that we should smile as much as possible!
Pavilion. Flagmen – The Landing of the Family Happiness Ship
The ships of family happiness and their captains are the focal point of Andrey Bartenev’s sculpture. Let us follow the example of these heroes and open our hearts to our dreams! The signalmen who help the family happiness ships to land symbolize the joy of life and our certainty that true feelings will overcome all barriers. “Family is the source of human happiness”, notes Andrey Bartenev.
