The twentieth century unquestionably exposed the arbitrariness of the criteria and norms once used to evaluate art. The very concept expanded to include the work not only of professionals who received an artistic education, but also of those who passed this system by (or had very little contact with it). There is in fact a mass of nuances between these two extremes of art as part of the cultural tradition (l’art culturel) and art as a free creative act independent of that tradition (l’art brut). An illustration of this can be found in the art of Igor Novikov. Born in 1960, his professional interests were largely focused on the field of jurisprudence, in which he achieved a great deal of success. Jobs carrying a heavy weight of responsibility, the tense work first of an investigator, then of a lawyer in the largest legal firm in the world, and finally of a dedicated, expert consultant – all of this was an intrinsic part of Novikov’s life as a lawyer. He turned to the systematic practice of drawing and painting in 2014 and since then has been less and less involved in legal work. Igor did not receive any particular artistic education, but he exhibited a love of drawing from an early age. He could produce sketches, cartoons, drawings for bulletin-board newspapers and posters with ease.

Nevertheless, he had many other hobbies in his childhood and youth, among which were an interest in animals and horse riding. It was even more difficult to steal some time for artistic endeavours while engaged in his career. A stylised portrait of his son in pencil is one of his few surviving pieces from the 1980s – the clear-eyed boy in a budenovka cap (complete with red star) could have been the hero of a Soviet-era children’s book. In the course of his creative activities, Igor was able to independently find and choose the expressive methods and materials which make his visual statements so convincing and aid him in achieving a balance between form and content.