Mark Tochilkin

Art critic Grigori Ostrovski, Professor at the University of Jerusalem, specialized in the influence of Russian avant-garde movements in the world during the 19th and 20th centuries, describes Mark Tochilkin as a figurative painter working in an expressionist style. "One of the defining characteristics of Tochilkin's work is the outstanding technique and solid professionalism found in his painting, plastic art, drawing and composition". He divides Tochilkin's work into different series: lovers, animals, nostalgia, or music. He notes that Tochilkin's work is also characterized by a constant return to these same themes after intervals of several years. The same subject always comes up with a different approach, the artist varying the compositions. According to Ostrovski, music and musicians occupy a special place in a Tochilkin series called "music". The artist's characters include famous musicians such as Niccolo Paganini, Arthur Rubinstein, Leonard Bernstein and David Oistrakh among others. For Ostrovski, "the representation of music in painting is most difficult, if not impossible. Tochilkin has nevertheless achieved a tour de force: his canvas lets us see the music”. The reviewer recalls that this series portrays a symbiosis of colors, compositions, lines and tones that echo the sound of music. The artist captures the orchestra at its peak, the height of creative intensity. Another innovative technique developed by Mark Tochilkin is his introduction of frames, painted within the structure of the picture itself. These frames are gilded and abound in ornate baroque scrolls. The critic compares this deliberate splendor to a sly parody of "philistine love and ostentatious luxury". According to Ostrovski, this technique seems to be more effective: the double frame (one real, the other an illusion) appears to extend the painting's limits, thus creating a fascinating interaction between image and the viewer himself.

In 2015, he begins a new collaboration with the artist Arman Darian, an Armenian ceramicist. Their bronze sculptures are exhibited on Mamilla Avenue in Jerusalem for three years in a row.

In 2002, he begins making sculpture. He than invents a special process to color his bronze sculptures.

In 1999, he participated in the exhibition "Judaicart", alongside other artists from the School of Paris.

In 1998, he had a solo exhibition at the Caesare Gallery, in Florida.

In 1995, he participated in a charity sale for the benefit of the AKIM association at Sotheby's with other personalities, including Robert De Niro, Whoopie Goldberg, Yitzhak Rabin, Oliver Stone, Diego Maradonna… The following year, he participated in a new charity sale in New York, for the benefit of the AKIM USA association with other personalities such as James Brown, Patrick Bruel, Phil Collins, or even Benjamin Netanyahu.

In 1994, Mark Tochilkin was the subject of an article by Joseph A. Melamed, which recalls that the artist's artworks were acquired in various museums in Eastern Europe, such as the National Museum in Warsaw, and four Ukrainian museums from the time of the former USSR.

In the early 1990s, his work was exhibited at the Detroit Museum of Art as well as at C.W. Post University, Long Island, in the United States; at the University of Camerino's museum, Italy; at the Heidelberg University's museum, Germany; at the Uzhhorod museum in Ukraine; and at international contemporary art fairs such as Art Miami or Art New York, as well as in a lot of art galleries in Europe and the United States. Hiw work was exhibited in different solo exhibitions in Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Belgium, the United States, Germany, and Israel..

Tochilkin achieved some success, and his works sold in major Auctions (Christie's in London) from the mid-1990s. An international rating was established, and it was found in official catalogs such as Artprice, Artnet.

In 1984 he married the Ukrainian artist Ina Belous, with whom he collaborated to give a series of collaborative artworks, which mix Belous' specific technique with Tochilkin's composition.

In 1977 he graduated from the Dniepropetrovsk Institute of the Arts, and in 1983 from the Leningrad Academy of Arts, where he obtained his doctorate in Art history. During his studies, in the years 1977–83, Tochilkin had six hours of painting study each day, from eight o'clock in the morning until two in the afternoon, plus additional lessons on theories and art history. Studies at the academy were strongly oriented towards a classical academic realistic approach. Upon graduation, he was accepted as a member of the Artists' Union of the USSR. He then participated in a large number of individual and group exhibitions.

Mark Tochilkin (Russe : Марк Михалович Точилкин), is born in 1958 in Dniepropetrovsk in Ukraine, he is a painter and sculptor. Figurative artist, he is best known for his portraits, landscapes and his musicians. The work of Tochilkin is characterized by his technique and the pictorial mastery of his compositions.