Children yearn for their summer holidays, especially when those months bring a welcome spell of warmth. Who among us does not think back to our childhood of long days, adventures, and playing in the sunshine?
Vasily Peshkun loves every season, and is inspired by nature. You’ll find him outside in all weathers, with his canvas, brushes and paints. Of course, summer evokes special feelings for him, bringing greater relaxation, to restore strength, in mind and body. Mr. Peshkun has amazing energy and expressive artistic language, as shown through his woks: they reflect his aspiration to penetrate the depths of life. For him, learning never ends.
The exhibition features Mr. Peshkun’s landscapes and still-life works, uplifting in spirit, with their connection to rural harmony. His emotionally rich and picturesque motifs demonstrate our planet’s inexhaustible energy, warmed by the summer sun and producing endless joy and inspiration.
Vasily Peshkun primarily works in the genre of landscapes and ‘cosy’ still-life works. His mastery inspires us to look at simple objects differently, appreciating the delicate beauty in ordinary, daily things. However, landscapes are his favourite genre, created in the open air; they have a freshness of observation and an impressionistic understanding of colour. Mr. Peshkun does more than state the fact of natural beauty; he has a connection with nature, feeling its character and mood. He catches its wonderful nuances and slight alterations through the day and seasons, adding his own, personal response.
Mr. Peshkun’s rural landscapes are especially delicate and touching. These are primarily of places near his home village: over 300 of his works are devoted to the village of Nadvin (in the Gomel District), where his grandparents lived and which he visited often in childhood.
City motifs are also a focus of his artistry: his favourite, Gomel (where he was born), and Minsk (where he lives and works at present). Mr. Peshkun always takes his paints and canvases when he travels, having recorded his impressions of Holland, Austria, Uzbekistan, Germany, Hungary, Russia, Poland and Ukraine.
Author’s style apparent in Vasily Peshkun’s works
Mr. Peshkun’s landscapes are lyrical and touching, melancholic and thoughtful, festive and rollicking. His landscapes show heart-felt dialogue with nature and with his audience. Looking at Vasily’s pictures, you rather feel as if you are joining him on his journey: not only geographically but internally. This creates the impression of an incredible unbroken tie, between man and nature, inner and outer harmony.
It’s a pleasure to admire Mr. Peshkun’s landscapes, recognising well known places, cities and countries, depicted simply and vividly, depicting the beauty of the environment and its calmness, peace of village life and rhythms of large cities. Importantly, he discloses the harmony and joy of daily life and deep and unbroken ties of people and the environment.
Evidently, Mr. Peshkun not merely states facts and depicts moments. He shares his own feelings and impressions: tender feelings, scents, sounds and recollections. His pictures arouse a storm of emotions. Of course, our internal state tends to match the state of nature. Moreover, any true art work is more than a virtuoso example of technique; it must be original, helping us find our own reflection of thoughts and feelings.
I can assure you that such feelings are born from visiting Mr. Peshkun’s exhibition at the National Art Museum.
Vasily Peshkun
Vasily Peshkun was born in 1978 in Gomel. He graduated from Gomel’s Art College and the Belarusian State Academy of Arts (the Monumental Decorative Art Department). Vasily was awarded a scholarship from the Belarusian President’s Special Fund to Support Talented Youth and, since 1999, has taken part in numerous Republican and international exhibitions. He has had over ten personal exhibitions and, since 2005, has been a member of the Belarusian Union of Artists. In 2008, he was awarded the ‘Talent and Recognition’ medal by the Peacemaker International Charitable Alliance. Mr. Peshkun’s works are held by Belarus’ National Art Museum, the US Museum of Modern Russian Art (Jersey City), as well as in private collections in Belarus, Russia, the USA, Israel, Japan, Italy, and France. At present, the artist lives and works in Minsk.
By Veniamin Mikheev
