Serbia givi. Phantasmagoric painting as a reflection of the soul: Heartfelt paintings by Givi Siproshvili

February 8th will be the anniversary tragic death Hero of the DPR, legendary battalion commander of the Somalia battalion Mikhail Tolstykh, known under the call sign Givi.

Givi was killed in a mean way because they could not win the battle, he said at his funeral Head of the DPR Alexander Zakharchenko.

Mikhail Tolstoy was blown up in the office of his military unit in Makeevka. Before this, there had been attempts on the battalion commander’s life several times. The Ukrainian saboteurs involved in his death have not yet been detained.

To an apartment in the city of railway workers Ilovaisk, where lived before Givi, I arrived without warning. Then MTS communications only disappeared in the Republic. Nina Tolstykh, the mother of the famous battalion commander, invited him into the hall and treated him to coffee. Was at home Native sister Givi - Marina. In her hands the woman rocked a baby, whom she named Mikhail - in honor of her brother.

Nina Mikhailovna shows a corner decorated with photographs of her son. Flag of Somalia, numerous awards. She says that on Odnoklassniki, fans of Mikhail who did not know him personally write to her from all over the world. But they know about him well from television stories from the front lines and military reports on the Internet. Givi's victories were followed in Russia, China, Germany, Georgia, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and many other countries. All these people, his mother and the entire Republic share the pain of loss.

And recently, two girls from Crimea came to Mikhail Tolstykh’s grave. They had long dreamed of meeting the woman who raised the hero. They gave her a pillow with a picture of Givi. They also left a scarf “Happy Victory Day!” and asked him to place his idol on the grave on May 9.

GIVI WAS NAMED BEFORE THE ARMY

-Who was Mikhail Tolstykh?- I ask Nina Mikhailovna.

In me, in my father (both are Belarusians.- Auto.) - he fought in the Great Patriotic War, reached Berlin... The son loved his homeland, his family, the “Somalia” battalion infinitely. If necessary, he lent his shoulder to each of his fighters. “We used to have a lot of Somali kids at our house,” the woman says with tears in her eyes.

- Nina Mikhailovna, how did you raise such a son?

I was raised by myself and my husband. My mother was in Belarus.

- What was Givi interested in as a child?

Football and boxing. Misha tried not to miss a single football match in Donetsk. I supported Shakhtar Donetsk with him. Of the foreign teams, my son liked the Spanish Real Madrid.

We had a punching bag in our apartment. Misha always took first place in boxing in Ilovaisk. And once he was offended at a competition. He won, and his opponent's hand was raised. The audience chanted in support of Misha, but the judge did not change his decision. After the fight, the son came home and said that he would no longer go to boxing, he would train on his own.

- How did he study at school?

Fine. Until the fourth grade I was an excellent student. I was never called to school for bad behavior. He had a good class teacher, Svetlana Viktorovna Kirsanova. Not a Saturday passed without her gathering the children with their parents. We did crafts and had evenings. Mikhail was praised by his teachers. Now the 15th school where he studied is named in his honor.

- Who did Mikhail want to become?

First, as a dad, as a train driver. Sergei Leonidovich from the railway dynasty. When my son was 15 years old, I taught him how to drive a train.

- Did his dreams change after serving in the army?

Yes. Misha was taken to serve immediately after 10th grade, assigned to The educational center"Desna" in the Chernigov region. In the army he became a tank commander. Tank studied it like the back of his hand. They received letters of gratitude from the army command for raising their son to be responsible and disciplined. By the way, in the army Misha was nicknamed Givi. Because he was dark.

SON ENTERED THE MILITARY LYCEUM

- How was the life of Mikhail Tolstoy before the war?

At one time he worked as an industrial climber, hanging advertisements on buildings. Then at the Khartsyzsk rope plant - as a driver of a diesel forklift.

As for his personal life, immediately after the army he lived civil marriage and we have a grandson left who was 8 months old. I named him Sergei. Now my grandson is 18 years old and is a first-year student at the Donetsk Military Lyceum.

For five years before the war, Misha lived with Natasha from Khartsyzsk, whom he loved very much. But God did not send them children.

- Has your grandson taken after his father?

I guess, yes. Mikhail raised his son in strictness. At school, Sergei was involved in a search engine club. He liked to go on hikes to look for the remains of the dead and ammunition from the Great Patriotic War. And during the armed conflict, Seryozha asked his dad to join his unit. Misha took him home twice during the summer holidays of 2016. He probably taught his son a lot. Now the grandson is a platoon commander in a military lyceum. And after two years will go study at a military school.

STRENGTH IS IN THE LOVE OF A MOTHER

- Nina Mikhailovna, when did the war come to Ilovaisk?

In July 2014, when Mikhail came home for family celebration, a serious mess was already brewing in Ilovaisk. I begged my son, by God, not to interfere. He calmed me down, and he told his sister Marinka that he was already at the checkpoint in Khartsyzsk.

Misha left and was gone for a long time. I had a dream that everything was burning and my son was there somewhere... I knew that there was already a war going on in Slavyansk and my soul was not in the right place. I remember Misha called, he said something, and I only clearly heard shots at the other end.

Where are you? – asked him.

At work…

What's that noise about you?

Yes, it’s on the street... I went out to smoke.

Are you in Slavyansk?!

Yes, mommy, I’m in Slavyansk! - he said. - You know, my soul is easier now. Now you have found out where I am, and you will pray, and God will protect me.

Then the son asked:

Are you supporting me?

“I will always support your choice,” I answered.

Mommy, I love you!

After some time, Nina Mikhailovna learned that the militia were surrounded. The woman thought she was going crazy. Givi didn’t call for a long time, and then got in touch: “Mom, everything is fine!” A week later I called again at night: “I’ll be near you soon.”

Then my son called from Donetsk,” Nina Tolstykh recalls and cries.

THE GERMANS DIDN'T BOMB AS WELL AS THE APU

- When did Ukrainian soldiers fire at Ilovaisk for the first time?

July 12, 2014 - on Peter and Paul. It was hot outside. Sergei was sitting in the apartment at the computer, the window was open. Then he runs up to me: “On the street, grandfather is shouting that they have started bombing.” We had just gone down to the basement when shells began exploding in the area around the house.

When my son arrived, he insisted on sending me to Russia. And just two days later Ilovaisk was flooded with militias. I went to my sister's Rostov region together with my granddaughter on August 6. I saw how many checkpoints the Armed Forces of Ukraine set up one on top of the other and armored vehicles pulled towards our small city. Tanks, Grads, and guns stood in a row.

Nina Mikhailovna’s husband and daughter and her husband remained in troubled Ilovaisk.

On August 7, my daughter turned seven years old, continues Givi’s sister Marina. - We thought we’d call the Rostov region and congratulate them. But we sat in the basement all day - the Ukrainian Armed Forces were shelling again... When it calmed down, we went out into the yard. A gas pipe was blazing on the corner of our house. Between bombings I called my mother on Life, reassuring her that they were alive. In the evening we had dinner in the apartment and drank to our daughter’s health. But at night I had to go down to the basement again. I read prayers. I asked my mother for health, so that if we died, she would raise her daughter. The end of the world continued until dawn.

In the morning, Sergei Leonidovich with his daughter and son-in-law also gathered for the Rostov region.

There was a long line at the store near the house, people were stocking up on everything,” Marina recalls. – I couldn’t buy mineral water on the road. I remember then in the queue someone said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces would attack at 10:00.

Marina, her husband and dad reached the Russian border by taxi. They miraculously crossed the path, avoiding Ukrainian armored vehicles.

When we boarded the train to Taganrog in Uspenka, my godfather called me. “Kuma, where are you? Your house is on fire…” says Marina.

Sergei Leonidovich with his wife, daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter stayed for a month.

On September 5, Misha called: “Mom, they have turned on the light in your neighborhood,” Nina Mikhailovna recalls her son’s words. – When we returned, it was difficult to drive through - starting from Uspenka, there were destroyed Ukrainian tanks right on the highway. There were many sinkholes in our yard. Not a single piece of glass in the apartment survived - the shells exploded with such force... The Germans did not bomb like the Ukrainian military.

GIVI SHARE THE LAST BREAD

- Has the war changed your son?

He has gone very grey. Became thoughtful. Even kinder. I never forgot about people. He knew every basement in the city where people were hiding from the bombings. Mikhail brought some humanitarian aid, coming to the unit, people forced to take refuge in basements, wondered how they were. Sometimes he shared his last bread.

- Nina Mikhailovna, the “Somalia” battalion, one might say, was formed before your eyes?

- “Somalia” really took shape in Ilovaisk. Some went to Russia, and when the chaos began, they stayed with Misha. His friends always followed his son; one could not help but admire him. He immediately took four of his comrades from the canting factory. These guys later told me that Misha had a special grip, both at work and in battle...

My son had four hundred people in his battalion, and he treated everyone equally. He managed to be strict and demanding and at the same time kind. He loved his soldiers to be clean and well-groomed. He often repeated: “I am not a hero. Understand, heroes are my people who are fighting on the front line. I'm just their commander, that's all. Victory is made by my artillerymen, my soldiers on the front line, my infantry.” Misha was very happy when medals “For the Defense of Ilovaisk” were awarded to all his fighters!

- How did you stand it, knowing that your son was in the thick of it?

I do not know. I stood on the balcony until 3-4 am, unable to sleep. From the Donetsk airport occupied by Ukrainian military personnel, and then from Debaltsevo, the “northern lights” (flashes of volleys and shell explosions) were visible. Auto.).

-Have you visited your son in the military unit?

Twice. For the first time, he gave a tour of his unit in Makeyevka and showed him the gym. I saw how he trains fighters. The son remarked to one of the soldiers that he was holding the machine gun incorrectly. The weapon must be held so that it can be reloaded in a matter of seconds. If you hesitate, they can kill you...

I came home and burst into tears. My Misha is a non-military man (he served in the army for two years), but he understood military affairs and could find an approach to the soldiers.

The second time I came to Somalia myself. I wanted to make sure everything was okay with my son. In the early spring of 2016, at the Yasinovatsky checkpoint, an attempt was made on his life and he was wounded in the arm. So, the son called a thin soldier with the call sign “Bolt” and said: “Mommy, it was he who, covering himself, saved my life.” I hugged him, kissed him and thanked him from the bottom of my heart. And he: “Nina Mikhailovna, I will give my life for the battalion commander!”

Nina Tolstykh can talk for hours about her son. Listening to her, sometimes it seems that Givi is alive. The woman shows books about her son and worries about the fate of the Republic. She proudly says that many of Misha’s guys continue to serve.

Finally, Nina Tolstykh showed me a framed wall photograph with stamps “To the Heroes of Donetsk People's Republic dedicated... There is such a profession - to defend the Motherland! ", donated personally Minister of Defense Vladimir Kononov. Nina Mikhailovna says that she does not need support as such, it is important that her son is remembered.

You can honor the memory of Mikhail Tolstoy both at the Donetsk Sea cemetery and at the Museum of the Great Patriotic War. Nina Mikhailovna recently donated her son’s beret, children’s photographs and thank you letter from the commanders of the unit where Givi served as a young man.

DOSSIER "KP"

Mikhail Sergeevich Tolstykh was born on July 19, 1980 in Ilovaisk. In May 2014, he joined the militia in Slavyansk during the most fierce fighting! The most important battle in which he had the opportunity to participate as a company commander was in the summer of that year for his native Ilovaisk. Givi’s fighters held the city for several weeks in a row, despite the powerful onslaught of the National Guard, which at that time had significantly more people and weapons.

Since September 2014, Givi and his fighters have participated in the battles for the Donetsk airport. Military correspondents called Mikhail Tolstoy the reincarnation of the famous general of the war of 1812, Peter Bagration. On October 19, 2014, he turned to the leader of the LDPR, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, with a request to provide cars for transporting the wounded. Soon the militia received two Nivas from Zhirinovsky.

On February 24, 2015, the battalion commander was awarded the Order of “Hero of the DPR.” In September 2016, he was awarded the rank of colonel of the DPR Armed Forces. Among his awards are two St. George crosses, a medal “For the Defense of Slavyansk”, and two degrees of the Order of St. Nicholas.

The legendary battalion commander Mikhail Tolstykh died on the morning of February 8 as a result of a shot from a rocket infantry flamethrower"Bumblebee". The Main Military Prosecutor's Office of the Republic opened a criminal case into the terrorist attack.

Givi was buried with military honors in the capital at the Donetsk Sea cemetery. At the “Immortal Regiment” procession in Donetsk on May 9, 2017, the portrait of Mikhail Tolstykh was carried by the Minister of Revenue and Duties Alexander Timofeev. Walking nearby was Alexander Zakharchenko, the Head of the DPR, carrying a portrait of Givi’s friend Arsen Pavlov (Motorola).

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Nowadays on the Internet you can often find works of contemporary artists who impress the viewer’s imagination with positive vibrations and give unforgettable pleasure from what they see. Much less often on the Internet we come across the works of artists that evoke certain associations and force us to think figuratively and penetrate into the depths state of mind heroes of the paintings. Among these amazing masters I'd like to give a name Georgian artist Givi Iraklievich Siproshvili. For some, his works will seem incomprehensible and unacceptable, for others - they will literally reveal the subtle vibration of a wise perception of the world and phantasmagoria in its purest form.

Such original authors are a rarity in the world of contemporary art. Siproshvili’s creativity is so extraordinary that the receptive viewer evokes an association with the other world, with one in which there is no rough matter, where colors vibrate and merge with each other without clear boundaries. And there are those for whom his painting evokes strong associations with the paintings of Bosch and Bruegel. Some experts argue that this is not painting at all, but rather light painting. Sometimes it even seems that Givi has some kind of connection with the other world, and unearthly forces inspire him to create stunning paintings. But at first glance...

In fact, the master’s range of sources for inspiration is much wider: in his works one can see touching innocence and sensual frankness, windy youth and experienced maturity, joy and sadness, biblical wisdom and “Freudian” motifs, vibrant life and the tranquility of the other world. Almost every painting by the artist contains elements of symbolism, allegory and metaphor. And the master’s work as a whole is literally imbued with love.

It is also worth noting that the rich range of associations embedded in the paintings is intellectually and emotionally charged. And the esotericism of the mythological past is so organically intertwined with modern modernist trends that it creates extraordinary integrity and harmony.

When creating his unique paintings, the artist puts into them not only a plot, form and image, but also a soul. And therefore this picture’s soul easily finds consonance and empathy with the soul of a sensitive viewer. The living reaches out to the living... Therefore, the artist’s works are instantly perceived by the heart. Warmth literally flows from them, there is great positivity and a subtle sense of harmony. The most suitable concept here is spirituality. And who wouldn’t want to have a source of spiritual warmth in their home?

That is why the paintings of the Georgian master are widely popular not only in the art market. His works are exhibited in leading art galleries in Germany, the USA, Poland, the Czech Republic, and France. His work is highly valued by collectors around the world.

His paintings are an example of that very art that should purify and elevate a person, push him beyond the limits of ordinary values, and also remind us that behind the colors of our physical world there is a much more perfect and beautiful world...

The painting of this original painter is distinguished by a phantasmagoric fusion of genres and styles of different content. Many of his works are shrouded in philosophical symbolism. Among other things, modernism and abstractionism, impressionism and expressionism are noticeable in his creative research.

A master from Georgia works in the genre psychological portrait, landscape, still life, using various oil painting techniques. Sometimes it is difficult to believe that oil paint was used in textured works, since sometimes it looks like tempera, and sometimes it strongly resembles pastel.

As a painter, Givi is very individual: in his work he uses original painting techniques developed by himself, as well as various techniques for applying several layers of paint. In this masterful ability of the artist to use and transform visual material lies the author’s handwriting, or, as they say now, the author’s face.

Looking at the gallery of his portraits, very soon thoughts about artistic technique naturally fade into the background, and the inspired faces begin to magically attract the viewer’s attention, forcing them to peer more closely at the image. And at some point, an epiphany suddenly comes: it is not people who look at us from the canvases, but their beautiful souls. The originality and sincerity of Givi Siproshvili’s portraits captivates even the discerning viewer at first glance, touching his heartstrings very deeply.

Einstein." In my opinion, here I was able to convey the scientist’s sense of purpose, energy and freedom of thought - qualities that helped him make many discoveries."

But while working on female images, Givi Siproshvili, with a truly Georgian national temperament, declares: “I love all women, without exception. Each of them has its own zest.”

A little about the author

Givi Iraklievich Siproshvili (born 1940) - painter, graphic artist, member of the Union of Artists of the USSR and Georgia, member International Federation artists (UNESCO), member of the Union of Artists of Russia. In 1971 he graduated from the Tbilisi Academy of Arts with a degree in painting.

The artist’s work was primarily influenced by the ancient national culture and history of Georgia. Born on its warm and hospitable land, Givi Iraklievich always considered himself an integral part of it. Therefore, in his paintings he expresses his national worldview and life position: “Honestly, I always wanted my works to show the character and state of the human soul. This is probably where the influence of the old masters on my work manifests itself. Many of the characters in my works are fictional, but arise from everyday observations, from live sketches.”

However, not everything is creative career the artist was even and smooth. Preparing for the anniversary personal exhibition, the artist did a tremendous amount of work. But the paintings never saw their audience. Due to an unfavorable combination of circumstances, literally the entire collection of his paintings was stolen. The artist, although not immediately, coped with this turn of fate: “In life there are ups and downs. The crisis lasted almost ten years, my hands had a good rest. But then, gradually, everything returned to normal.”

Continuing the topic of unique techniques in modern painting, read our review: