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“At art school in Russia they took us to the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. I was transfixed by a painting by Camille Pissarro. The people and carriages actually started to move. But when I discovered the pair of panels by Matisse, Dance and Music, it was the first time I realized that color could make a sound! When I learned that Gauguin also experienced this, I knew I wasn’t crazy.” His hearty laugh fills his small studio. His enthusiasm and love of art is infectious. “There are seven notes in the musical scale. There are seven colors in a rainbow,” he says. “The idea that music is linked to visual art goes back to ancient Greece and has been substantiated in modern times.” Ruslan paints vivid abstract oil paintings. “I moved away from representational art because so much social realist art in Russia was pushed down my throat, although artists were more respected there than here.” He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and finds abstract art more challenging. “To create something original you must be very smart,” he laughs. His biggest influence is Claude Monet. “I can close my eyes and think of his work and I cleanse my eyes right now. I can see light shining on his Rouen cathedral.” He tells me behind each of his paintings there is a specific place, time, weather or atmospheric condition that inspired him. “For 20 years the majority of my paintings came from a path in Bryn Athyn along the creek.” His recent work is inspired by Tookany Creek in Cheltenham. “I drive to my studio in Kensington and am overwhelmed by the natural beauty,” he says. “I walk outside in nature a lot. Then I am captivated by something interesting that is happening—light falling on the water, the architecture of the trees, the mist rising.” Mighty Spring, a 50” by 32” oil and acrylic painting on canvas depicted here, genuinely dazzled my eyes with an explosion of warm and cool tones and interesting patterns. It is primarily abstract,
bordering on the representational. If you look closely you can see images of the trees that inspired the work. “This painting started for me when I saw sycamores on a street in Jenkintown. I painted the majority of this en plein air.” Seeing this strange man standing there looking at these trees for a long time, the neighbors called the police. He laughs again. He tells me he gave the painting its name because of the feeling it gives him, the quality of light created by the blue and bright greens, the yellow with dust. “The bark was falling off the trees and light was hit-
“I do look for a logic in the shapes. All the little things are important to me. One stroke on a painting can make the whole difference in a work.”
ting the tree trunks in a certain way. I saw so many different colors. There was so much room for interpretation,” he says. He adds it is important to find unusual combinations of color. “Color is light; shadow, space. I am always searching for it. Occasionally I find what has never been done before,” he says. The painting is a contrast of geometrical planned and free hand images. It is both logical and illogical. The center is filled with light. It is both striking and exciting. “Sometimes I start a painting in acrylic, and if it works for me I am done. If not, I go over it again in oil,” he says. He uses classical materials intentionally, oil and canvas, because connecting to tradition is very important. I notice the blue “X” design in the center of a multicolored tree of various shapes. “In this painting I started a new
vocabulary, free form geometric shapes. I created the blue ‘X’ and combined it with sensitive brush strokes to create the blue branches. The ‘X’ is there for contrast. It has its own life.” He starts with an idea but may not know how to get there. So he uses different approaches and a variety of brushes. “With this work it was the right combination of brush strokes, marks, drippings and even squeezes of color out of the tube.” He contrasts light thin paint, which gives a watercolor effect, with thick paint textures. “I do look for a logic in the shapes. All the little things are important to me. One stroke on a painting can make the whole difference in a work.” Much of this and his other work is done with spatulas and a pellet knife. “I push the paint with a spatula. This gives me a feeling of control. When I use the pellet knife I find that the shape, which is left, is very solid and unique. This is completely original,” he says. The window of his new studio provides an aerial view of Kensington—row houses, industrial building rooftops, a subway in the distance. Ruslan sees a menagerie of shapes and colors, light and shadow. “I love these rooftops. These shapes will come into my work at some point.” A very intuitive artist, he acknowledges the mystery of the process. “It is important to push myself further, either towards the abstract or the more representational. I have to find the right level in each painting. It is a combination of respecting rules and breaking them. I have to be painting every day for it to happen. If I don’t paint, there is no reason for me to get up in the morning.” Ruslan’s art is featured at Art of It Gallery and Marketplace, 315 York Road as well as at nearby Marzano Ristorante, 309 York Road, both in Jenkintown. You can also contact him directly at Rkhais@aol.com. John Cella is a freelance writer living in the Philadelphia area.
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