The way led by providence
I have no doubt, about the fact, that every real artist is being marked with the Divine spell, or using Russian folklore words, - is Kindled with God’s sparkle, and scientifically speaking with talent. The artist admonish and his craving to fine art, sometimes arise as an inner appeal or impulse, and sometimes as the superior will’s sign, being implanted into him in the family, where the future artist has been born at.
Yuri Vasiliev was brought up, just in the hereditary type of fine-arts servants family. His future vocation was planted in his genes and being supported by the whole life-stile of his family. His father – the famous painter Anatoly Ilich Vasiliev was the member of the glorious canstellation of real masters, whose study process in the Academy of Fine Arts has been rudely interrupted by the war and by Leningrad Siege. In 1950 he has become a member of the Artist Union of the USSR. The same year, his son Yuri was born, who was keepiny up father’s line – first as Academy student, then as professional painter, the Union’s member. Together with his father, Yuri took part in every kind of exhibitions, all Russia, city, international or even joint – projects with his father. He was obviously influenced by his father creative style. Father’s works are being displaed in the son’s atelier-shop, and some of them, being used as coloristic model. But Yuri always avoided simple imitation. Even his student choice, was different from his fathers. He entered graphic department, not painting as his father, and graduated it in 1974 under supervision of art’s tutors of professors Pachomov and Vetrogonsky. In 4 years he had become the Russian Artist’s Union. Since 1971-2000 Vasiliev had taken part in a great number of gruup exhibitions, held in Norway, Finland, Poland, France and Germany. His works have been purchased by stayte Russian Museum, Fine Art’s Academy, Saint Petersburg city history Museum, Dostoevsky Museum, in the estamps department of the Russian State Library and some other collections as well as within the state and private collections of Germany, Finland, Poland, France, Swizerland, USA, South Corea.
The present exhibition celebrates borth: artist’s 50 years and 25 years of his creative work. But it doesn’t include all the variety of the scope and range display, but just one glimpse of painter’s vocation – water-colors and drawings, made in the mixed technique (monoprint, acryl, collage).
His water-colors being the reflections of the travels – Russian and Norvegian North, and Turkmenia, Uzbekistan, Moldova and France. In general all his stationary water-colors being painted from the nature or in doors from nature sketches. The artist as real master has free-spirited elaborated technique, in precise and delicate reflexious of the charm of Nothern landscapes, the sun claol spirit of sandy Asian deserts, the full boolied splendour of Moldavian orchads, festival romantic air Paris Monmartre, so beloved by the author.
The most appealing and promising was another artist’s project – suite called “Travel to dream”. This serie’s works, being performed monotypia’s technique – collage, the painter had expressed his own vision and dreams about the countries he visited, but only in the pages and drama books. Within the landscapes and jenre scenes the painter has been wining the chance to grasp these countries air, as if he had caught the light, color and music vibrations, being sent to him. It was considered as some, sub-conseious Pushkin’s mentality imprint, whose drama works, poems, lyrics – often have been spelt by fiction countries and ages, seen by poet through the dream’s crystall ball.
On the exhibition you can see some book’s illustrations “Equal to Apostols Revereund Brothers Cyril and Methodius”, “The short ciriculum Vitae of Saint Olga – Great Princess of Russia”. These works are prominent for its synthesis of images and devices, going back to ancient Russian icon-painting traditions and of the individual originating from artist’s priority plan, behind the composition outline, color range and involvement of free spirit, overcoming the “freezing remotence of the time”.
Yuri Vasiliev’s works seemed to be attractive with its innermost concentration and conceptual depth, strange to the modern commercials vanity. They are being imbued with melody of true Kindness, the one which grants the spiritual stability within our modern jungle world, “out of mind and out of brakes”.
Fine arts critic Abram Raskin
Saint Petersburg, 2000 year.