Alexander Efimov

About Alexander Efimov.

Alexander Efimov was born on Sakhalin Island in a small town. All his childhood he drew and made sculptures. After school and the army he decided to study art seriously and went to Leningrad City (now St. Petersburg) and became a student of the Art Institute. It was not easy, because after the bester applicants ware selected there were examinations only one out of five of the best applicants became a student of the Art Institute. Аlexander Efimov showed capability as a portrait sculptor while he was still a student at the Art Institute. His teacher of sculpture said to students about Alexander’s degree portrait (portrait of the girl "Marina") «To make such a portrait it is necessary to love nature ". Having completed his studies in аrt at the institute, Аlexander decided to abandon the major cultural centre of the USSR, Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) and to return to his home on the island of Sakhalin in the Far East. As a young person, he wanted to create freely without the advice (councel) of the authoritative artists. But also on Sakhalin, in the Artists’ Union there were Honored, experienced artists (members of the Union of Artists of the USSR). They began to take an interest in the young sculptor, to give him advice and they attempted to give him direction.
The Artists’ Union on the island of Sakhalin was making very serious preparation for the major exhibition in the USSR which was to be opened in Moscow. The experienced artists advised Alexander, not to send his artworks to Moscow, because Alexander was too young an artist for such an important major exhibition in Moscow. But after some debate they agreed that he could send just one artwork. But young people are very sure of themselves. Alexander put 4 sculptures in a box, closed the lid and nailed it down. “Why is the box so heavy? Is there only one little sculpture?” the Honoured artist asked Alexander. He replied, «I put in lots of newspapers for padding ". In Moscow, the selection was very strict. The selection group were very famous artists. So no one from Sakhalin Artists’ Union (some dozen artists) was chosen except for Alexander!! The young artist represented Sakhalin Island with just 3 sculptures. The sculptures were of 3 different kinds: a medal, a composition and a portrait "Zoya"
After that Alexander was a participant in many exhibitions, and many of his artworks were purchased, The portrait "Vasily" was purchased by both the Ministry of Culture of Russia and the Ministry of Culture of the USSR.
In the 80s and 90s Alexander Efimov regularly visited the Sculptors' Creative Centre (Creative Home) in Pereyaslavl - Zalesski. It is an ancient town near Moscow, with many monasteries and churches. Sculptors could use it for a two month period. Travel costs, the studio, a model, sculptural materials and meal - all were free of charge. Famous artists visited the Creative Centre offering valuable advice. More than once Аlexander heard arguments among the artists about Alexander's portraits. The artists said that the portraits were interesting and original and some of them abused his art works, but the artists were not indifferent. There in the Creative Centre Alexander became acquainted with the sculptor, well-known throughout the country, Pеter Chusovitin, and made his sculptural portrait. And Peter told to Аlexander - " My portrait has been made by many known sculptors, but you have made one of best portraits.. .., but it signifies nothing, because you will leave again for the Far East, 10 thousand kilometres from the cultural centres of Moscow and Leningrad and nobody will know anything about you ... ". In these words there was truth, but the fact that the master confessed Аlexander's creativity was of a high class, was very valuable for Alexander.
Alexander Efimov moved with his family from the island of Sakhalin to the major city of Khabarovsk which is in the Far East of Russia. He designed a number of special works of monument art for the city of Khabarovsk. Two things - " Memorial Plaque to Mr. Rudnev, Commander of ' Varyag 'Cruiser” and " Memorial Plaque to Mr. Sungorsky, marine writer " recognized by press and public of the city, as the most original Memorial Plaques of the city of Khabarovsk. In 1989 after participating in some big exhibitions in Moscow, Alexander was invited to join the Union of Artists of the USSR and Russia. It was in 1990 that Alexander Efimov's personal exhibition was held in Khabarovsk, where about 65 works of art were exhibited.
In 1997 Alexander was awarded Certificate of Honour issued on behalf of the Governor of Khabarovsk Territory for "Development of Art in the Russian Far East". At that time Alexander began casting in bronze. In his studio hundreds of things were cast in the bronze, and his art works were cast by himself in person .

2001 Аlexander moved to New Zealand with his family to the city of Auckland.
2001 Alexander's bronze sculpture "Puppies" won the Waitakere Licensing Trust Art Award 2001 Lincoln Green Sculpture Award First Prize in an exhibition. In 2001 and 2005 Alexander Efimov was selected by an international jury as the artist who should represent New Zealand in the Florence Biennale, Italy. In 2004 Alexander created the sculptural project for Rutherford College dedicated to Lord Rutherford and received the Creative Communities New Zealand grant, and now this project is finishing. In 2004 Alexander's bronze sculpture "No Complite" won Waitakere Central Community Arts Council Merit Award and his son Alexei Efimov also received a Merit Award for a painting in this exhibition. Is was a unique case in the cultural life of the city. In 2005 Alexander’s bronze sculpture “On the Seashore” won Waitakere Central Community Arts Council Merit Award.In 2006 Alexandr’s bronze sculpture “ Cat “ is winner of the category Sculpture and Alexander’s sculpture “ A Family “ received Merit Award on the Waitakere Central Community Arts Council Members Exhibition 2006
Now Alexander has ten years of experience with bronze casting and more than 30 years experience as a professional sculptor. Psychological portrait, composition, monument art, animalistic, medal art, fancy plots - these are the types and genre of his artworks.