Artist Vasily Polevoy
Vasily Polevoy stands out as one of the painters, who found his artistic creed in the former USSR in the sixties.
It seems that, from that very time on, he has gone deep into his own “inner emigration” remaining himself all these years in all his “creative leaps” from graphic arts to monumental decorative painting and mosaic. The style of his works fantastic and realistic at the same time is permeated with kind humor sometimes stretching out to grotesque and caricature with an incredible combination of both trickery and simple-heartedness.
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His themes
and their styles used to put him in one row with the so called “modernistic” and “lacking proper ideological orientation” artists.
One amusing example: in Moscow in 1973, an exhibition of avant-garde
Moscow artists took place, where Vasiliy presented his lovely painting
“Kurochka Ryaba” (“Little Spotted Chicken”) inspired by a well-known
little children’s story. This painting was commissioned by a center
for graphic arts for one establishment for children. On a 60x80 cm canvas,
there were depicted old man and woman mourning over a golden egg laid
by their little spotted chicken and broken when fell down. This exhibition
caused an extreme resentment in the upper echelons of the Communist
Party, which was expressed in a smashing article in one of the central
newspapers. The entire exhibition and its every participant were harshly
criticized. Vasiliy Polevoy’s painting was apparently singled out
as the most resentful and lacking proper ideological orientation. The
author even entitled his article “Kurochka Ryaba” and castigated
the artist in the worst manner possible.
After his immigration in the United States in 1990, the struggle for the daily
bread for his family has not weakened the artist’s creative fever.
There appeared a plethora of new works, numerous exhibitions took place.
The artist’s life perception has always remained fresh, forbearing
and full of optimism despite a certain melancholy touch. Carefree living
is a game one wants to entirely to be immersed into. Peculiarity, unconcern
and even some nonsense are nothing else but desire to forget the horrors
of wars, terrorism and other nightmares.In the works of Polevoy,
there is no “drum” optimism, petty-bourgeois
orthodoxy or pleasing the market demand; there is a freedom of world
view, mere beauty. That is where his unique style and the charm of acutely
detected characters and images come from. The everyday
life becoming increasingly serious, the “clown behavior” of Vasiliy Polevoy
remains the keeper of good
traditions of folklore: fairy tales, epic poems, people’s splint and
primitivism.Let us
not analyze a lot, let us simply enjoy the originality of style and
unpredictable colorful miracle of the creations of the artist.
Artist Vasily Polevoy:
Five periods of the Creative Experience:
- Study at Yelets Art School
(Yelets, Russia)
- Leningrad (The Interior design
program at V. Mukhina Memorial Leningrad Higher Arts and Industries
School),
- Moscow,
- Lviv (Ukraine),
- United States of America.
Polevoy’s monumental installations:
The period of time in Moscow:
1. A mural for Temir-Tau Restaurant
(Kazakhstan);
2. Cheremushki Restaurant (Moscow);
3. Graffiti (carving done
using multilayered tinted plasters) for the Air Defense Forces Club
(Moscow);
4. A panel entitled "Russian
Fairy Tales" for the Embassy of Colombia in Moscow;
5. A theatre curtain in the city
Blagoveshchensk-on-Amur;
6. Murals for the Palace of Culture
in Arzamas (a closed military city on Volga).
The period of time in L’viv (Ukraine)
from 1971:
1. A mural "Friendship Among the
Nations" at the Palace of Culture in the Moldavian city of Rybnitsa,
2. A sea-themed mosaic for the
Yunost summer camp in Simferopol (Crimea, Ukraine),
3. Five mosaics for bus stations around L’viv.
The period of time in USA (from 1990)
A mosaic titled "North
Carolina Nature" on Main Street in Hendersonville, NC,
A mosaic titled "The
Baptism of Christ" in the sanctuary of Naples Baptist Church (Hendersonville, NC.)
A mosaic “Angels” for
the healing Center (Greenville, SC).
Other
Creative Experience
The
illustrations for 5 children’s books in Russia, Moldavia and Ukraine,
The number of the art exhibits
in Russia and most European countries from 1965 to 1990.
The number of exhibits in
L’viv from 1971 to 1988.
Five exhibits in Atlanta,
(Georgia) from January to May of 1995.
A big exhibit in Art museum
in Greenville, SC, on 2000.
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