The open air show — Artist and City — opens in Minsk’s Yakub Kolas Square for the fifth time in late May. This year, the project will be devoted to creative activity of Belarusian Valentin Gubarev, whose works decorate the famous Les Tournesols French Gallery yet remain little known to the Belarusian public.
Reproductions of thirty of his pictures will be showcased, accompanied by text in Russian, Belarusian and English, allowing Minsk residents and city guests to learn more about the artist.
Valentin Gubarev is a Belarusian painter, boasting bright individuality and a special world outlook. His pictures tend to focus on the daily life of small provincial towns, while using caricature. Since 1995, he has liaised (under exclusive contract) with the prestigious Les Tournesols Gallery, in France, but also has pieces at the National Art Museum of Belarus, the USA’s Zimmerly Art Museum, and at the Swiss Schaer und Wildbolz and German Kunststuck galleries. His canvases can be also found in private collections in Russia, the UK, Japan, Spain, Israel and elsewhere.
The Artist and City exhibition project is being realised with support from Belarus’ Culture Ministry and the Minsk City Executive Committee. The Grand BS Agency of Social Marketing and the National Centre of Contemporary Arts are among the show’s initiators, while VTB Bank has been the project’s general partner for two years. Its Deputy Chairman of the Board, Sergey Doroshevich, believes Artist and City is more than just an open air show, acting as a calling card for the capital and a gathering place for residents. Meanwhile, VTB Bank is continuing its corporate social responsibility work, helping promote and support modern Belarusian art.
In the past, Artist and City has presented works by Marc Chagall and Kazimir Malevich, and by Belarusian 20th century avant-garde painter Nikolay Seleshchuk. Every year, over two million visitors attend the show. It opens on May 26th, displaying reproductions of Valentin Gubarev’s works until early September.
By Mikhail Vetrov
