Alexey Petrovich Mukhin (1946–2021) was born in Kostroma, where he received professional training at the Art and Graphic Faculty of the Nekrasov Kostroma State Pedagogical Institute. In 1987, he joined the Union of Russian Artists.

He was always at the center of cultural and art events, and actively participated in numerous exhibitions: regional, zonal, all-Russian. Over many years of creative activity, he realized his artistic potential in many forms of art: painting, graphics (poster, magazine, easel) and photography.

Mukhin’s painting “Frying Pan” belongs to one of Kostroma’s brightest periods in art. This was when young artists appeared on the art scene, and in many ways changed the city’s creative landscape. It was a time of liberation from the shackles of ideological pressure, a breakthrough to freedom of creative expression.

“Frying Pan” is a genre painting. The artist painted the center of his hometown, the main square, which the residents of Kostroma call exactly that — “Frying Pan”. Mukhin displayed the life of the city: locals cheerfully walking by, a kiosk that sells kvass on a hot summer day. The artist depicted an ordinary scene from the everyday life of the people who lived in Kostroma during the Soviet period.

The artist’s cheerful and resourceful persona can undoubtedly be felt in the positive mood and subject of this work. Alexey Mukhin masterfully used visual means and color to convey the spirit and general outlook of the times.

Later Mukhin took an interest in graphics, watercolors and pastels. He achieved significant success when it came to techniques where rigor, structure and freedom of color are organically combined.

Mukhin’s landscapes of Kostroma with the quiet streets of the Old Town, the beauty and grandeur of its temples and architectural ensembles are distinguished by the artist’s high painterly skills. The paintings and graphic works of Alexey Mukhin constitute a significant contribution to Russian artistic culture.