Observations: Artist Daniil Volkov

I first saw Daniil Volkov’s work in Charleston at the Hagan Gallery about 8 years ago. I was so moved emotionally that I forgot to breath and then with one deep resuscitative inhale I sensed instantly my world expanded. I had discovered what I know now is the tradition of Russian impressionism and what a discovery for me!!

Volkov and his contemporaries today are a constant source of awe and delight. I’ll be posting much more on this amazing group of artists. I have connected with several of them and am eager to share their work and perspectives with you here as this blog functions as my personal art journal. I write to learn and share because connecting with others here brings me joy.

Today, Volkov. He’s about 51 yrs old and I’m not sure where he is living today due to the war but he is from Yalta and paint the Crimean costal area. . He is the son of a very famous artist and is highly trained in the Ukranian/Russian tradition.

His work is full of life, lyrical rhythm and color. His application is think and thin and like an olympic athlete, he makes it look easy. I this way, he art feels very personal, relatable and full of movement and emotion. He knows what he wants to say and says it concisely and clearly.

In the two paintings below I love how he creates intimacy and connection by placing the viewer directly into the scene. His approach to composiion feels modern and immediate. Rather than putting a foreground between the subject and the viewer, he often places a person at the front of the painting as if there was actually someone standing just in front of the viewer.

The dark silhouette of the four people walking into the scene leads the eye into the painting. It would feel very different if we could see the feet of the foreground subjects and even more so if there were a more snowy street between the viewer and the people. If there was more foregrond, it feels to me that the people would become the subject of the painting. As it is, the painting feels more about the experience of being there than the subjects themselves. And how would it feel if the people were clearly walking towards the viewer and we had more detail to the faces?

In contrast, the following two paintings below feel less intimate and I connect less with the experience of being there. Still wonderful paintings in their own right of course. Just a different feel to me.

Notice the rhythm of the warm earth tones throughout the painting.

The gesture of the people feels like they are pushing past the entrance to the store. Are they bundled up and bustling home to a warm fireplace? If they were placed before the door, imagine how it would feel different and convey a different message.

Below, the black and shote version reveeals the strong value structure The trees against the sky lead the viewer melodically through the scene. The contrast of the dark trees and light sky doesnt hold they eye for long. Why? Perhaps because the darks and the sky are cooler and less saturated than the foreground.

One of my favorite tricks Volkov often uses: He uses pops of bright color like the red here to lead the eye around the painting. It might look lik a random pop of red but there’s a trick that makes it magical. That’s the subject of the next blog post. You can find it here.

See more of Daniil Volkov’s work on Instagram.

More about Volkov from the Paul Scott Gallery in Scottsdale, AR: Daniil Volkov was born 1974 in Yalta, the son of renowned Ukrainian artists with an ancestral history of painters going back to the court of Imperial Russia.  In 1989, he entered the Crimean art school named after Samokish, and it was here that he met his future wife Elena, also a distinguished artist. He graduated in 1989 and his first solo exhibition was held in Yalta in 1995.  Furthering his education, he studied at Moscow State University. In 2001, Volkov returned to Yalta where he has been living and working since, specializing in capturing the beauty of the Crimean landscape in his own distinctive lyrical style.  Volkov has participated in numerous exhibitions, his works are in private collections in Ukraine, Russia, Europe, Canada and the USA. He has had a one-man exhibit and virtual catalog at Gallery Russia in 2012, 2013 and 2014, as well as a solo catalog in 2015.