For Andrei Nikolaevich Mikhalyev, as a master of printmaking, the technique of lithography is the closest, allowing for freedom, spatiality, and painterly and textural effects in graphic images. He was one of the first to turn to color lithography, creating in the early 1960s a series titled "In Przhevalsk" (1961). These genre color autolithographs, connected by a common theme, tell the story of the life of the working youth of Kyrgyzstan during those years. Based on his observations, the artist accurately conveys the everyday rhythm of life of his heroes. By depicting them in work and daily life, he emphasizes the character traits of young people, their attitudes towards labor, community, and nature. The sheets "We Work at the Ship Repair Plant," "Something is Not Right," "In the Cafeteria," "At the Beach," "In Evening School," and "Before the Screening" are distinguished by compositional variety and a special mood, in which color plays an important role. The autolithograph "In Evening School" stands out for its compositional and color integrity. The artist managed to achieve clarity and significance in the image, using lithographic language to convey the soft evening lighting of the interior, as well as the color, textural, and plastic qualities of the depicted motif.
In subsequent works, grouped into cycles and individual lithographs, Mikhalyev, while developing themes of contemporary life in the republic, refines his mastery of this technique rich in expressive possibilities. He develops a unique style that combines the liveliness of contour pencil drawing with rich modeling of forms through light and shadow. Typically, in his lithographs, the environment in which the genre scenes unfold is "painted." Such is the series "At the Southern Mining and Metallurgical Combine" (1963), created from life material gathered in the industrial areas of the southern republic. Here, the character of nature and the labor atmosphere of the everyday lives of Kyrgyz miners, drivers, repairmen, and foundry workers are convincingly conveyed. The artist strives to "humanize" the urban tendencies of the technical age, revealing his own aesthetics within monotonous labor processes. In several sheets, he achieves artistic expressiveness of the motif. For example, the sheet "Quarry in Haidarkan" depicts the spectacle of an open quarry, where excavators crush the earth against the backdrop of gigantic mountains, with machines bustling about and human figures scurrying. The artist saw and conveyed the intensity of human creative activity and the picturesque nature of the landscape.
Some of Mikhalyev's lithographs often retain the freshness of the directly observed motif, impressing with the artistry of his command of the graphic material's arsenal ("In the Park," 1962; "Tbilisi. Circus," 1962; "The Violinist," 1962; "Waiting for a Ride," 1963; "Nun," 1963).
The master's hand is evident in the series "Sport" (1967-1968). Here, Mikhalyev's professional skill as a virtuoso lithographer is apparent. The sheets of the series are characterized by the elegance of forms: the ease of the drawing, the subtle gradation of color from silvery to velvety black, and its textural variety. The artist provides lively, immediate characteristics to his heroes—beginning athletes—and creates an environment that facilitates the revelation of the psychological states of individuals. The possibilities of lithography are interestingly utilized in the best sheets of the series "The Light of Lenin's Ideas" (1969) and "In One Collective Farm" (1973), which feature sharply observed genre scenes, character types, and motifs of nature. Here, as in most of the artist's works, the significance of achievements and the beauty of contemporary life are expressed through the depiction of the ordinary. "In both lithographs and watercolors," the critic emphasizes, "Mikhalyev is characterized by a high culture of artistic thinking. The master has a keen sense of modernity and is constantly in creative search."
In printmaking, Mikhalyev remains true to the traditions of the artistic school he attended at the institute under V. A. Favorov, M. S. Rodionov, and K. N. Istomin, who placed great importance on working from life.
