Yuri Kuznetsov
Welcome to Yuri’s World, a magical place where the boundary between fantasy and reality is blurred; where the absurd becomes natural; where the cares of everyday life recede into memory and disappear. It is above all, a happy place. Yuri’s message, if one were to distill it from his delightful images, is one of tolerance, acceptance, happiness and joy. By imparting his creatures with human traits and fables, he allows us to at once appreciate our life, and laugh at it at the same time. Yuri’s playful pokes are always affectionate, never mean-spirited.
Of course underneath all this playfulness is a serious and accomplished artist. Yuri Kuznetsov graduated from the famous Mukhina Art Institute in St. Petersbury in 1986. An accomplished painter, Yuri claims inspiration from the surrealists, especially Magritte and Rousseau. Following the tradition of Magritte, he explores the relationship of shapes to reality and to each other. There are little abstractions in Yuri’s work, and one can enjoy the multitudes of patterns, lectures, colors and shapes n much the same way as if one were viewing an abstract painting. It is here that Yuri displays his mastery of the formal elements of art. As with Rousseau, he seeks to show us, through his animal characters, a vision of paradise on earth, although in a decidedly more urban setting.
Yuri’s loveable creatures might be found anywhere but most of the wonderful scenes and stories take place in the imaginary town of “Zhivay Gerod” somewhere outside of Moscow in the Russian countryside. Here there are homes, apartment buildings, shop, schools and factories. The town’s main industry is the Music Factory. This helps explain the music-happy nature of the local populace almost everyone plays some kind of instrument (not always to the pleasure of his neighbors!). There is also the Vehicle Factory, where cars, planes, boats and just about everything that can take you from here to there are made.
Rarely does anything spectacular happen. Rather, most of Yuri’s paintings depict mundane events cut from the fabric of everyday life. Viewing a group of Yuri’s paintings is like looking at a scrapbook filled with candid photos, some silly, some poignant which one became more treasured with the passage of time. We are encouraged to appreciate every little bit of life as it unfolds around us; often deceptively simple, sometimes magical, always irreplaceable.
