Dmitry Achkasov at first seems like a typical Ukrainian artist: he wears brightly colored clothes and his comments about art are peppered with quotes from poems.
But there’s one thing that makes him stand out among his peers – his works regularly sell for up to $25,000, and they have been exhibited in some of the world’s top galleries, from the Arte Daniele Lucchetta Gallery in Venice, to the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. Over his career, Achkasov has notched up more than 100 solo exhibitions in the United States, Prague, France, Italy, Greece, Russia and China.
The 50-year-old painter creates his large watercolors, up to two meters in width, in a loft studio on the top floor of an eight-story house in the city center. The studio offers an impressive view of Peizazhna Alley, a walking street hidden among residential buildings near Zoloti Vorota metro station.
Dozens of his paintings, in ornamented gold-painted frames, hang on the walls of his luxury studio, waiting to impress potential buyers. They feature scenes of rural life in the style of Russian classical artists and the views of old European cities. Former buyers include members of Ukraine’s disgraced pre-revolutionary political elite, and Achkasov says he still has politicians as his clients.
The painter says he loves to surround himself with beautiful things, and says they inspire him to paint more. And he says his success means that he can concentrate on work without having to worry about financial issues.
Achkasov inherited the passion for painting from his mother, one of the country’s top restorers of oil paintings. He recalls his family’s apartment always being packed with paintings his mother was working on, and the smell of paint forever being in the air. Achkasov’s father, who was a jazz pianist, also supported his son’s desire to become a painter.
The painting by artist Dmitry Achkasov features gondolas, light flat-bottomed Venetian boats covered with snow. (Courtesy)
After graduating from Kyiv National University of Architecture and Construction in 1989, Achkasov moved to Prague, where he created his first major works. His paintings won praise from art critics, and he was soon invited to exhibit in New York. In 1993, Achkasov gained a degree in architecture at Boulder University in Colorado. While in the United States, he became acquainted with members of the Russian artistic elite who had left the country because of repression, including painters Lev Lominago and Mihail Chemiakin, and poet Joseph Brodsky.
Now based in Kyiv, Achkasov almost never paints scenes of modern life. His works pay homage to the art of the Renaissance and Medieval Europe, and feature romantic landscapes and scenes of old architecture in Prague, Venice and London.
“People used to be more spiritual at those times. Now is the age of Coca-Cola and mass culture,” Achkasov says with a sigh.
The artist says modern painters tend to “blurt paint at the canvas” trying to shock people with their work, rather than striving to improve their technique.
Not many artists work with watercolors now, because it’s “very unpredictable,” Achkasov says. Applied incorrectly, water can easily spoil a work, especially ones that have many details painted with small strokes. But the artist says that unlike heavy oil paints, watercolors emphasize the lightness of the scenes he portrays. The painter also says it’s easier to draw architecture with this type of paint, as the subtle shading it allows can make an image look more three-dimensional.
Although based in his native Kyiv, Achkasov usually exhibits his works abroad, as national museums with very low budgets can’t afford to buy and feature his works, he says.
He puts much of his success down to many people from all over the world sharing his melancholic yearning for centuries past. Achkasov’s most recent exhibition toured China and Japan in April.
“I’m always curious about how my works are perceived, not only by the citizens of my own country, but by people from different cultures,” Achkasov says. “This is a two-way street that gives you an opportunity to show your art to strangers, and to feed off their energy.”
