Vasily Kafanov
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Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography
Illustration
Vasily Kafanov | |
|---|---|
 Photo of Artist Vasily Kafanov | |
| Born | Vasily Alexeyevich Kafanov[1] 16 July 1952 (age 73) |
| Alma mater | Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography |
| Known for | Painting Illustration |
| Spouse |
Eteri Lobzhanidze (m. 1980) |
| Children | Lucy Kafanov |
| Website | Kafanov.com |
Vasily Alexeyevich Kafanov (Russian: Василий Алексеевич Кафанов; born 16 July 1952) is a Russian-born painter and illustrator.[2]
His works have been collected in many countries.[3][4]
His painting style mainly involves the depth of life in different forms. He also uses ceramics, printmaking and sculpture for making his artworks.[5]
Kafanov was born in Moscow, Russia. His parents were Ludmila and Alexei Kafanov but as they got divorced, he was raised by his grandmother.[2] After finishing school, he was in the Soviet Far East, Kuril Islands, serving in the ranks of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1970 to 1972.[6] He graduated from the Moscow Institute of Art and started his life as a graphic artist and an illustrator. Later on, he graduated from Advanced School of Cinematography and created four short cartoons at the Soyuzmultfilm studio.[7] He married Eteri Lobzhanidze in 1980. Their only child, Lucy Kafanov (born 1982), is a journalist who is a National Correspondent for CNN U.S. based in the Denver bureau.
Painting style
Kafanov used to paint traditional oils on canvas and sometimes on wood panels.[8] Later on, his drawing began to feature a large fish, which popped up in a variety of very strange settings, carrying small chapels and towers on its back.[9] Nowadays, he uses rapidograph and black Japanese ink on acrylic for his paintings.[4] Bright primary colors with yellow backgrounds, as well as much red and green are also used in his paintings.[8] He also worked on different fields of arts with ceramics, welding, sculpture and artifacts concerning alchemy.[10]
Inspiration and emigration
In the late 1980s, when spy thriller The Russia House was made in Russia, its film crew used Kafanov's studio to hold a cast party. Among the guests was the film director and painter Franco Zeffirelli who praised his painting style and played a key role in influencing Kafanov.[11] Throughout his career, Kafanov has also been inspired by the paintings of prominent artists, such as Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Mikhail Shemyakin and Giorgio Morandi.[12] In 1990, Kafanov emigrated to America and started living in New York.[13] His first exhibition in the United States was in the summer of 1990 in San Francisco.[14]
