Sergey Lavrentyev was born in the ancient town of Shuya in the Ivanovo region in 1960. The artist grew up in his grandfather’s house that stood on a high bank of the river Teza. The place where he was born preserved the traditional way of life established hundreds of years ago and has not yet lost its slow pace and majesty on a par with the simple ways of common people. A graduate in painting from the Ivanovo Art School the young artist moved to Vologda. The 23-year-old Lavrentyev was inspired by works of Vrubel, Malyavin, Feshin and Sutin. His creative impulsiveness led him to experiment with various forms of media and artistic methods. He makes the space of his pictures complex by applying sand, wood and cereals.
Sergey Lavrentyev has been working with his wife Natalia for years: they have become integral parts of each other’s work but nevertheless both manage to keep individual styles. People in Vologda think of the Lavrentyevs as an eccentric couple: such an attitude liberates the artists from any constrains to their creativity imposed by art institutions. The art of Lavrentyev is so sincere and so distanced from that of the big cities which claims to be progressive and active on the market. Therefore Lavrentyev’s artwork is doomed to be appreciated by a narrow circle of friends. This opportunity to do what he wants — paint, draw and sculpt things and people he is interested in — is exactly what makes the life of an artist happy. Lavrentyev has artistic freedom and independence: many artists today can only dream about such a gift. Lavrentyev thinks that spontaneity is part of his artistic method. The artist improvises on the spur of the moment, creating portraits of friends or writing simple and funny poems. Lavrentyev’s permanent condition is one of inner search. Lavrentyev follows his periods of active work with periods of apathy and then begins work again once he feels the urge to paint and takes up his brush.
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Night2000
