I was born and educated in Moscow, Russia, former USSR. In the 80’s I immigrated to the United States and lived for many years in New York City where my children were born. Eventually, we moved to Vermont, where I continue to reside.
Many years passed and many events have happened since I left my birth place. But certain things don’t change. Memories of the past linger over my present, as does the strong feelings of my Russian cultural roots.
The artwork presented here was done over a period of time. The drawings are pen and ink on paper and paintings are oil pastels, watercolor crayon and mixed media on paper.
About Drawings
I have always thought that visual art does not need explanation. It speaks for itself through images, form or color. Everything an artist wishes to tell is here, boldly displayed for the viewer and it is up to the viewer how to interpret and understand what he sees. Never the less, I would like to mention one thing. Generally, I don’t use literature as a starting point for my drawing. No matter how much I like what I am reading, it rarely triggers a wish to make an illustration. However, a few of my pictures were done as an illustration for a poem by a Russian poet, A. Blok and two writers, M. Bulgakov and I. Babel.
Every artist has his own way of working, his own creative process. There are no rules, roads maps or recipes for imagination. For me, ideas can come from anything. My work is an expression of reality as I see and feel it. For example, the drawing “Dance” was dedicated to a friend of mine, who, as a child, always dreamed of being a dancer and grew up to become a dedicated school teacher. So, I used my “power” and made her a beautiful dancer, on stage, in the spotlight. Here, in drawing, my friend’s dream came true.
Ideas can come from anything: a lonely figure of an elderly man, slowly carrying his groceries, or a wash flapping on a clothesline, or from an abandoned chair, awkwardly placed on the side of the road. An idea can also come from the sight of a plastic bag and pieces of newspaper, swept up in the air by the wind and gracefully float there in a slow, hypnotic dance. Of course, another artist or photographer’s work can be very inspiring indeed, and also create a spark. It is not the working process after all that is important, but the final result of the artist’s effort.
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