22/11/09 - 10/1/10



Gallery K of Hampstead, together with La Parole Divine, a new art consultancy is exhibiting the art of Yuri Gorbachev, and to welcome him in person at the opening. KALEIDOSCOPE is a wonderful array of paintings in brilliant jewel-like colours. The myriad elements in the images are derived from traditional Russian folk themes, village life and childhood dreams, all executed with great style in oils, lacquers and gold paints. The exhibition is supported by Stolichnaya Russian Vodka, a brand of the SPI Group.

As his name suggests, Yuri Gorbachev is related to the former Russian president who introduced the reforms of Perestroika. For Yuri, who was an established ceramics artist, it meant he was free to leave Russia and travel to the New World. So in 1991, at the age of 43, with little money and even less English he arrived in the USA. He discovered that the language of art is universal, and when encouraged to paint on canvas instead of clay, the results gave him worldwide success.

In 1996 Gorbachev was commissioned by the UN to create an original painting in conjunction with its ‘Endangered Species’ series of stamps. His work is now exhibited and purchased throughout the world and can be seen in many permanent collections including the Louvre, the Kremlin and the White House. Some of his important exhibitions include the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, The National Museum of Ukraine, The Museum of Kiev, The Rudana Museum of Bali, The joint Gorbachev/Chagall Exhibition in Prague, The UN in New York City and the Cultural Museum of San Paulo in Brazil.

Gorbachev has an unusual, interesting technique: he draws in a thick layer of wet oil paint, in the way that potters scribe into wet clay. He fills in the drawn outlines with smooth layers of paint. Over the paint he applies multiple coats of lacquer, which intensifies the colours. He then fills the incised grooves with metallic and gold paint, until the entire picture resembles brilliant enamels, with a hard shiny light-reflecting surface reminiscent of a Faberge egg, or stained glass.

The 31 fascinating paintings in KALEIDOSCOPE span 15 years of Gorbachev’s work from 1994 to the present day. They show in retrospect that although he has left Russia, Russia has not left him – it is the source of his inspiration and imagination.

SPI Group is one of the world`s leading alcoholic beverage companies and operates state of the art distilleries in Russia and Latvia. Among its leading brands, exported to more than 100 countries, are Stolichnaya and Stolichnaya Elit, made from the finest ingredients and created through a rigorous distillation process. SPI Group has received numerous quality awards over the years, with the most recent being the Vodka Master Award for Stolichnaya Elit in October 2008.

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Gallery K of Hampstead
101-103 Heath Street,
London NW3 6SS
England
Tel: +44 (0)20 7794 4949
Fax: +44 (0)20 7431 4833

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