Today I added one more tag to my blog: “Interesting people”. I have long wanted to write about the interesting people I meet along the way, and online in particular. And I will start with the obvious choice, my dad, Viktor Stepanovych.
Back in the day he did manage to put something of his own into my head. For that I thank him enormously. Some understanding of art, of how to treat people and work with them. And of how you should treat a woman, a family, children. Naturally each of us, as we grow, falls under the influence of other, external factors that shape our minds. On the whole it turned out the way it turned out.
So, my dad is an artist and now lives in Italy, and I believe this country suits him as never before. Not because the standard of living is better there, or because all our emigrants ran off there in the nineties when they could. My father had a chance to stay in at least five EU countries, but chose Italy. Because he is a true man of art and sees the world completely differently. Even if right now he paints not what is in his soul but rather what the market dictates. Roughly work like this:
They sell quite well across Europe, people buy them because they resemble the work of masters from 1900 to 1930, but the work and the ideas are my father’s alone. Italy inspires him; he restores antique furniture and paints, and the work gives him pleasure. It may not always match his original interests, but he gives it everything. Honestly, I envy him here, because I have not yet found an occupation that satisfies me a hundred percent. By the way, here is a clip where we restore an antique armchair. There were attempts to start a channel, and I think they might even have worked out if I had worked with him and taken it on, but the stars did not align. Here is the video:
First there was art school:
In his youth he loved playing football and was, according to my grandparents, a decent goalkeeper. A coach even came to our house asking that Vitya take the football path. The last word belonged to my grandfather, who saw no prospects in football. But then, most likely, I would not exist. Because he and my mother met at the Kyiv Art College. They studied, they dated, and they decided to make me first. I turned out how I turned out, but I was the firstborn, and my dad decided to give my mother a bouquet of flowers to mark the occasion. Only flowers that would never wither. That is how this painting appeared:
It hung above our beds in an old Khrushchev-era flat in Kherson, and throughout my childhood I remember it above my head. Later, when I was small, I think it was the most interesting period of my father’s life. The nineties, work here and there in advertising. But all his free time, when there was no work, and in the nineties many people really had none, my dad painted what his soul was drawn to. Still lifes:
I remember coming to his cooperative studio, where more than ten artists painted and created, and the atmosphere was fascinating. And while I made little wooden boats, my father arranged still lifes on a chair and painted.
Here is one of my favourite works. There is a story attached to it:
When my father brought it home finished, some old friends came to visit shortly after. At the time they earned pretty well. A husband and wife with two children, roughly the same age as my parents. The husband worked with metal, so there was always hard currency in his wallet. Seeing this painting, the woman took a hundred dollars out of her purse and said she was taking it. At that moment it was serious money for us, of course, but my mother flatly refused to sell. I think the offer reached three hundred, but she never sold the painting. She said: “Not everything in this world is for sale.” I think my father was even a little upset at first, but after some time he thought it over and appreciated what she had done.
Today I tried to take the best possible photos together with my friend Pasha. While I am at it, let me say that we do any kind of product photography to order. Here is my blog, and here is his: he gives free consultations to those who want to lose weight or train properly without harming their health.
All the best to everyone, and value talented people, there are very few of them.