Siberian Carpenter of German Extraction
At the beginning of World War II Stalin exiled thousands of ethnic German families living in the European areas of the USSR to
Natasha’s Dream: Colors of Her Future
I wonder where she is now, on what continent and on which side of the Atlantic Ocean or the Equator. We were planning to get m
Girl with Peach
“Girl with Peaches” is a famous impressionist portrait by the Russian artist Valentin Serov, painted in 1887. That
Kogalym: Siberian Town in Winter
A view from the window of my studio. It was just a room in a barrack, similar to the ones next to me. The barracks were divide
Star Cat
In the middle of a harsh Siberia winter I was driven to make this nostalgic fantasy picture of a cat staring at a starry summe
Birth of Athena
As a teenager my interest shifted towards fantasy pictures. Books on Greek history and mythology challenged my imagination. At
Cartoon: Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach was all the rave during my college years when it was translated into Russian and p
Cartoon: Daniel Pipes
At one of David Horowitz’s events I was listening to a speech by Daniel Pipes. My hand was holding a pen. On the table i
Portrait of a Hunt
He comes from the indigenous Western Siberian tribe of hunters, fishermen, and reindeer herders, whose official English spelli
Mental Patient as Emperor
He wasn’t too bright, wearing a permanently perplexed expression on his face, as if he were always lost in deep philoso
Mobster from the Caucasus
Another patient. I don’t know if he was a real mobster, but he surely talked and acted like one. At one time he stole my
Two-Colored Ink Portrait of Pavka
I drew him in the style of an early Soviet poster because looked like an earnest, selfless, ascetic, and all-around positive s
Siberian Psycho
This was by no means my best drawing, but just an experiment of what I could accomplish with the limited available materials,
Sasha the Moscow Hippy
As my friend and I were traveling in Uzbekistan in 1983, we met Sasha – a self-identified hippy from Moscow. He was sit
Village Girl from Yaroshivka, Ukraine
This could also be the portrait of Joan of Arc. She had a look of quiet determination and defiance, with crazy sparkles in he
Ukrainian Worker in Siberia
In the 1979-80s the Soviet government encouraged workers to move to the Western Siberia, by paying them double and sometimes t
Kropotin, Property Owner
This old man was transferred from a psychiatric ward where he was abused and beaten by other mental patients. He kept to himse
The Planet of Thinking Crystals (Teen)
These angular shapes may look like an abstract painting – but they are, in fact, an alien living forest of colorful thinking
Alien Self-Eating Planet (Teen)
As I was drawing doodles in my Biology class, I imagined the possibility of alien life existing, not as individual units, but
The Interceptor of Souls (Teen)
Another teenage fantasy rooted in childhood nightmares. As I walked home one rainy summer night I noticed that the fog and dri
John and Paul Pay a Visit
John Lennon and Paul McCartney hanging out in my old apartment in Ukraine. I originally drew a couple of my friends for whom m
Fantasy Wall Drawing (Teen)
When I was about 16, my parents replaced wallpaper in my room. They didn’t buy enough rolls and ran out of them before t
Mom’s Trip to the Mailbox (Teen)
My mother walking across the yard, back from her trip to the mailbox sometime in the late 1970s. She is carrying home the Prav