Inventor of quartz painting Alexander Nartov

Inventor of quartz painting Alexander Nartov
Many connoisseurs of unique things know and love Alexander Nartov’s quartz sand art. Who would have thought that an ordinary sand can be so interesting artistic material giving a space for imagination! Since for the creation of works the basic material has become quartz sand, then a new technology was called Quartz painting. In 2003, Russian artist Alexander Nartov received a patent for the technology. Since that time, he has created a large number of paintings from quartz sand in various genres: still life, landscape, abstraction and even portrait. Everything is possible!

This post is based on an interview of the inventor of quartz painting Alexander Nartov. “I was born and grew up on the shores of the Black Sea, city of Batumi. Was occupied with work as long as I can remember. I was drawing anytime and anywhere. The beginning of a serious creative path was a children’s art school in Batumi, five minute walk from the sea. Painting seascapes for me still one of the favorite activities”.

Alexander Nartov entered the Moscow Polygraphic Institute, where he focused on artistic disciplines. Leading teacher of his course was Andrey Vasnetsov, the grandson of the well-known Russian painter Viktor Vasnetsov. He had a special way of teaching. Alexander Nartov still uses the acquired knowledge in his work.

Alexander Nartov worked in all genres and techniques – painted in oil, watercolor, did linocuts, dabbled in stamping, forging, carving and creating custom furniture. For a long time was engaged in a monumental interior design in sgraffito technique. Sgraffito (ital.) – technique of creating murals, value of which is their high resistance. This is a very time-consuming technique that requires working directly on the wall and a top speed in order to prevent the plaster to harden before the completion of the pattern.

In 1998, in the workshop, on the desktop, of sand and binders I created the first work of a small format. It had the beautiful terrain and sand velvety surface. Very important was the fact that the sand was fixed firmly, did not crumble, did not afraid of moisture. It became possible to create any image in any color.

Nature – an inexhaustible source of inspiration. It gives the theme not only for subject, but also for abstract and decorative works. The ability to see beauty in simple solutions often suggests interesting, especially since I work with natural materials that allow the best possible way to realize nature motives.

Inventor of quartz painting Alexander Nartov

The creative process can be called co-authorship, where the partner of the action is sand itself. Sometimes, depending on the type of sand, in the process I get unpredictable results, and decide how it is possible to apply it in future work. For me, this process is very fascinating, as the sand tells interesting solutions.

While binder and sand is not “cemented” with the image, you can do anything: scratch, crush, insert mall stones directly into the mass. But when it hardens, nothing can be changed.

The time required for the manufacture of the work depends on many factors known to all creators. Sometimes, caught by inspiration, you create the artwork “in one breath”, for a day. And some simple works take several days, simply because you can not tune in.

In my arsenal are several types of natural sand – sea, river, shell, small-pebble and others, each of which in itself is further characterized by grain size and shape, color, weight. There is sand with high decorative qualities. I use it in the manufacture of clocks, decoration of photos, where is needed beautiful decorative addition. A lot of different shapes, colors, sizes of stones and shells are mainly got from the sea. They are nice to insert into decorative work.

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