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April Issue 2008
Fountainside Gallery in Wilmington,
NC, Features Works by Andre Kohn
Fountainside Gallery in Wilmington, NC, will present the exhibit, Moments, featuring the first solo show by Andre Kohn in two years. The exhibit opens on Apr. 26 and continues through May 11, 2008.
Kohn's works are his representation of the intimate, quiet and often private moments in everyone's life. Getting dressed, a whispered message, taking a walk, resting between dances are inspiration for the artist's work; he is the observer and chronicler in a most elegant way. As Kohn describes his paintings, "Without depicting life literally, I seek a poetic interpretation of a moment involving the human figure in its infinite variety of gesture and action."
The precise convergence of three dynamic forces - culture, environment and talent -combined to produce one of the most collected figurative painters on the American art scene today. Raised by an artistically gifted family near the Caspian Sea in southern Russia, Kohn's childhood was marked by the natural splendor of mountains and sea, and by an unfettered access to all the creative arts.
Kohn's mother was a symphony violinist and his father a noted linguist, writer and sculptor. Both were educators trained in psychology who gave their only child unrestricted opportunity to explore the depths of art and his obvious talent. Paintings, sculpture and books filled the family's tiny, one-bedroom home. It was a childhood without material possessions, but a childhood that taught him that the creative arts are the only true wealth. Kohn's parents also encouraged their son to draw on any surface - including the wallpaper in their home - which they simply re-papered when he grew old enough to favor sketchbooks. His memory of childhood is that "music and art were everywhere".
While always innovative in drawing and painting, Kohn's professional art education began at age 15 when he was chosen to apprentice in the studios of Moscow's most esteemed Impressionist and Social Realism artists. At that time, Impressionism in Russia was nearing the end of a harmonic and prolific century - a prodigious period in Russian art that literally changed the world. Kohn's childhood and art education corresponded with an eruption of cultural progress in all the arts, including ballet, literature, music and painting. He was principally influenced by such artists as, Nicolai Fechin, Ilya Repin, Valentin Serov, and the classics: Edgar Degas, John Sargent, and Joaquin Sorolla.
However,
fate soon dramatically redirected the young artist's life and
art. His father, a colonel in the Russian Army, was the first
candidate to participate in the post-Cold War officer exchange
program at the US Air War College in Montgomery, AL. In 1993,
while Kohn was in America visiting his parents, his father announced
his intention to defect to the United States. Suddenly, the young
artist realized he would never again be permitted to return to
his homeland.
It took little time for American art audiences and media to discover the mature, fresh figurative painting style of the young Russian. Kohn's first one-man show in America created instant interest in his work and helped introduce him to audiences in his adopted country.
Kohn continues to lead the pack in figurative impressionism, which seeks to capture the complexity as well as the simplicity and directness of the human form. "I'm seeking my own unique, poetic interpretation of the moment," he says. "I'm striving to find the extraordinary in the ordinary. Fine art is a powerful dimension of communication. It's a unique way to touch someone's soul, creating a wide range of emotions. For me, it's an opportunity to express myself or the viewer in on a secret." Certainly the snippets of time seen in Moments qualify as they allow the viewer in on the secret observations of the artist.
Kohn's work is represented by premier galleries in the United States and he is a regular contributor to invitational exhibitions. Kohn is a frequent subject of highly regarded art publications, and his unique ability to communicate the expressiveness of the human form has kept him a mainstay of private, corporate and permanent museum collections worldwide.
For further info check our NC Commercial
Gallery listings, call the gallery at 910/256-9956 or visit (www.fountainsidegallery.com).
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