Urban landscapes of the Belarusian artist, whose paintings are illustrated in school textbooks

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Minskers often see a young man with an easel on the streets of their city, writing various parts of the capital in a sketchy manner. It is famous Belarusian painter Vasily Peshkun, who writes all his paintings only from nature, considering this approach to work as the main principle of his work. The master is simply virtuoso on the streets, like a magician, with a wave of the brush creates his own canvases, giving considerable pleasure to passers-by, and especially to children, who most of all like to see how "the uncle draws".

His love for painting was instilled in Vasily by his uncle, who, as a boy, took him to an art school. And already at the age of 14, a talented teenager enthusiastically copied the paintings of famous Russian classics. But over time, Vasily's view of art radically changed and he became interested in the work of the Impressionists. Therefore, in the current landscapes of the artist, echoes of this style can still be traced.

And years later, the young painter developed his own original style, his technique and the author's handwriting, which earned him the recognition of the public in his homeland and far beyond its borders.

In a matter of minutes, the painter conveys the fleeting state of city streets and the dynamic transience of their life. Warm colorful palette, play of chiaroscuro and reflexes, original camera angles and fairly simple plots - this is the direction in which the artist works.

For example, in urban landscapes, he often uses simple but effective techniques: in the morning, these are the first rays of the sun, awakening the city from sleep, and later, the painter likes to convey lighting from street lamps and light from headlights of cars.

Wandering around the city, he finds each time more and more new subjects that catch him as an artist. And he already by means of pictorial means conveys to the viewer both the mood, and emotions, and the state of city streets, and various natural phenomena in his artistic vision.

The master's original technique is also interesting. He creates the distant plan of almost each of his paintings very light and transparent, similar to watercolor. And the closer to the front, the richer the artist's palette sounds, the thicker the paint is applied, which gives the objects volume and texture.

The artist also depicts a lot of rural landscapes, which are inspired by his native village, where he spent his barefoot childhood. And apparently as a boy Vasily Peshkun loved the village snowy winter very much. A whole series of his works is dedicated to her, evoking a feeling of slight nostalgia in almost all of us.

A little about the artist

And finally, I would like to note a few facts from the biography of Vasily Peshkun himself (born 1978). The painter is from Gomel. Graduated from art school and the Academy of Arts. During his studies, he was awarded a presidential scholarship. And since 2005 Peshkun is a member of the Belarusian Union of Artists.

Today, the master's works adorn the walls of the Palace of Independence in Minsk, as well as the Belarusian embassies in Berlin, Budapest, Belgium. His paintings were presented at numerous art forums of national and international importance. Many of the artist's works are in the Minsk National Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Russian Art in Jersey City (USA), and, of course, a considerable share of the artist's creations were sold to private collections of collectors in Belarus, Russia, USA, Israel, Japan, Italy, France.

But the most important reward for the artist is that school textbooks began to illustrate with his works. As we remember from childhood, their pages were always illustrated with reproductions of great classics. And the fact that a modern young artist was awarded such a high honor speaks volumes.

Continuing the theme of modern painters writing in a sketchy manner, the story of Alexei Savchenko, who is called the Levitan of our days.