Friday, January 06, 2012

Arty Farty Friday ~ Alexander Pogrebinsky

Casting around for a Sun Capricorn painter to feature today found me struggling. Henri Matisse was born on 31 December - but, somehow, I didn't feel inclined to feature him, his paintings don't do a thing for me. Pickings are slim. Russian (Ukraine) immigrant to the USA, Alexander Pogrebinsky, born 2 January 1951 is another possibility. Something about his work, the few examples of it I've seen online, attracted me. His style is generally categorised as philosophical realism, though his subjects over the years have also included landscape, still life and portraiture. (Shown left: Infinity 2)

The artist's own website is at http://www.pogrebinsky.com/, with extensive illustration and lots more information. Mr. Pogrebinsky is still a working artist. In this case, I have hesitated to post bigger versions of his work, and hope to avoid falling foul of copyright rules.

(Shown right: Kazak)
Alexander Pogrebinsky was born in Kiev into a family of artists, in whose footsteps he followed. He received a Ph.D in Fine Art from The Academy of Fine Art of the USSR in 1984, after 6 years' study there. His work frequently appeared on magazine covers and was exhibited nationally and internationally, some of it commissioned by the Ministry of Culture. He worked separately on subjects of his own choosing, outside of themes accepted by the Soviet Union: the religious and psychological. Pogrebinsky himself is of no particular faith, but his paintings show a universal interest in religions. Several works depict Jesus Christ. A triptych: Earth, Moon, Sun explores the individual and the forces of good and evil. Inspired by the philosophical writings of Goethe, Pogrebinsky included lines from Faust within the paintings. Many of his paintings deal with creation myths.

(Shown left: Evening)
With the tragedy of Chernobyl, Pogrebinsky seriously began considering immigration.
From a 1994 article about the artist in the Cleveland, Ohio newspaper, Plain Dealer:
They [the Pogrebinsky's] had long doubted the benevolence of the government, but the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, 60 miles from their home, cemented their destruct. The disaster struck April 26, 1986. Word reached the Pogrebinskys about five days later. Before citizens even caught wind of the accident, the militia sealed Kiev to prevent an exodus. Meanwhile, state leaders in the region fled in droves. "We just started to see that everything we had been taught was not what they pretended", says Pogrebinsky, 43. "Chernobyl just showed that they didn't care about the people".


In 1990 Pogrebinsky, his wife, and their two children used a travel visa to Paris to escape in December 1990. Travelling through Europe, the family arrived in New York City in January 1991. Afterwards they won political asylum from the U.S. Government.
Information from Wikipedia




(Shown right: Boulgakov3.)
With Sun, Mercury and Venus all in realistic, rational Capricorn this artist was always going to gravitate towards some kind of realism in his art. Eccentric Uranus, though, opposes Sun/Mercury from Cancer bringing more than a hint of innovation - this artist's realism is not always straightforward - though his excellent portraits and still life paintings do fall into that category. His more innovative realism balances the photographic with the creative and often unexpected. Jupiter in its traditional domain, Pisces in sextile to Sun/Mercury reflects his draw to religious subjects.

The transit of Uranus, planet of change, through Capricorn in 1990 and 1991 coincided exactly with the position of Pogrebinsky's natal Sun. Whenever Uranus transits one's most personal planets, change of one kind or another will always be in the air. In Pogrebinsky's case immigration from Ukraine to USA -a complete change of culture and lifestyle, was the gift of an often once-in-a-lifetime Uranus transit.

(Shown right: Yellow Roses)
The small images of paintings used are for information only and not intended to infringe copyright of the artist:

Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use

2 comments:

James Higham said...

I like the unnamed one to the left of "In 1990 Pogrebinsky".

Twilight said...

James Higham ~~ Yes - I couldn't find the title at the time i drafted this - i've looked again and found that it's titled "Zoloto", and the following:

Description: "Beautiful. Sad. Engrossed in rugged lifeness. Woman." (APFA, Director). This is one of Alexander Pogrebinsky's earlier works from the 1980s, one can notice the resemblance to "Gold" as "Zoloto" in Russian means "gold". The striking dark eyes of the woman seem to be filled with longing, desperation, and crying pain. A suffering painting, carrying through its emotions from the artists brush to our suffering world.

From
http://www.stephrew.artistportfolio.net/index.php