Vladimir Maslov, artist

Vladimir Maslov – has a natural gift for painting. His works are a mixture of high professionalism and folk tradition. They reflect the world in which he lives. The artists finds subject for painting in what surrounds him – the Volga’s river banks, its pine-trees, haystacks under snow, streets of his native town Bely Gorodok (literally: “White Town”), the church of Our Lady of Jerusalem’s icon. Nature is one of the main sources of his art. His paintings are based on the impressions of live nature but not only them. His landscapes are a search of Russian light and air, national atmosphere.

Artist’s grief about Russia is very topical. The poignancy of his pictures comes not from their literary plot. The form itself is very modern and even avant-garde. It helps to convey the content. A whirlpool of sharp, prickly strokes of his brush or palette-knife has its own drama plot and intrigue. It gives a visible impersonation of the author’s living through what he paints…

The radiant texture of his paintings turns colours into light. Most often the noble tones of his paintings show refinement surprising for an artist of such strong and fiery temperament.

Contrasts and light effects also attract Maslov. The moon half-hidden behind the clouds, red gleam of dusk struggling with coming darkness of the night, a light in the window surrounded by darkness…

In spite of the naive romantic beauty of Maslov’s works, it’s no use looking for harmony and peace in them. They are full of trouble and unrest, they express the author’s pain about his dying, violated country with ruined churches, houses without light, swept by evil biting whirlwinds… If we try to find a place for Vladimir Maslov’s works between numerous trends of the last half of the 20th century painting, he could be most naturally described as an impressionist painter, because impressionism most adequately expresses the modern man’s view of the world – the troubled spirit.