Art Away Day: Art fans head north for Timur Novikov retrospective

Timur Novikov was an avant garde artist and the spiritual leader of the St. Petersburg art scene before his death in 2002. Now he is a tourist attraction. Airline S7 and collector Pierre Brochet launched a program of “art tourism” late last month with a trip to Novikov’s hometown. “People are now looking for new emotions, new reasons to travel, new contacts, new friends,” said Brochet, a French citizen living in Moscow who began collecting Russian art almost 20 years ago. “The idea is to bring people closer to the art-scene.” Meeting artists, collectors and other members of the demi-monde “certainly beats just the hotel, the beach, and the bar,” Brochet said. Further art tourism is planned all over Russia and Europe, he said without giving details. Read Article

By Kevin O'Flynn, Max Seddon