Vladimir Lubarov (born in 1944) is a Russian artist working in the naive style, whose ironic and funny artworks depicting life in our Russian countryside have found many fans. It may seem to some that this is pure lubok, a mockery of the villagers and small provincial towns, and the artist himself lives in a house on Rublyovka, has several three-room apartments in Moscow, sells his paintings for big money to foreigners and has no idea about the real life in the village.
From the store. From the series “Peremilovo Village, City of Shchipok”
In fact, it is not so, if only because he lives in the village of Peremilovo near Vladimir, and to the characters in his paintings treats kindly and sympathetically, he simply depicts unadorned their daily life, and the chosen style provides the proper ease of perception and the overall positive mood.
Sawdusters
Lubarov's artworks are deeper than they seem at first glance, there are philosophical reflections on life, an attempt to reflect the national character, peculiarities of our mentality and perception of reality. In his paintings tradition is intertwined with modernity, through humor and irony sometimes sadness can be seen, and some artworks resemble a philosophical parable with metaphorical images and deep meaning embedded in them, revealed through a lot of details, such as, for example, in the painting Guardian Angel.
Guardian angel
There a sturdy village man, resembling a fool with his patched clothes and bare feet, is carrying a guardian angel, obviously tired of his antics and complete disregard for himself and others. And indeed, how many village men live as if each of them is prayed for by a monastery and personally guarded in heaven by a guardian angel - they drink whatever they want and lose their human form, fight drunkenly, and even use axes, neglect elementary safety, and drive cars drunk.
Girls going to the dance
However, Lubarov has more positive pictures, where he painted girls going to the dance, dancing in the village club, a cheerful village wedding and rest in the bathhouse.
In the village club
And they seem completely timeless, something like this could well happen 50 years ago and in the present day, as if life in the village is frozen forever and quietly flows its course, not changing and does not depend on external circumstances. Therefore, his paintings are a great reason for nostalgia, many who have ever moved in search of a better life in the city, looking at Lubarov's paintings, remember their youth and life in the village.
Village wedding
But surprisingly, the artist, who sang the Russian countryside in his paintings, was born in Moscow. His parents were unremarkable Soviet servants and lived in a communal house. Lucky only with school - Lubarov went to the Moscow Art Institute by Surikov, and when he graduated, he got a job as a painter at the motor depot. However, as a child, he loved reading books and looking at illustrations, so he decided to enroll in the Moscow Polygraphic Institute.
We're sitting pretty
Studying was clearly not in vain. Lubarov acquired the necessary acquaintances, and at the same time showed himself quite enterprising man - managed to organize the first private book publishing house in the USSR “Text”, which cooperated with the Strugatsky brothers and other prominent fiction writers. The money poured in, and everyone benefited - writers could finally receive normal royalties for their works, readers could buy, albeit at a commercial price, but really interesting books, and Lubarov, as one of the organizers, was allocated a percentage of sales.
I came home
But perestroika began, and with it competition became tougher. Lubarovsky's “Text” could not withstand it, and he himself became thoroughly disillusioned with city life. That's why he decided to get away from all the problems in the village of Peremilovo, where he began to write his ironic paintings. Indeed, there was no happiness but misfortune helped.
A long wait for the bus
Lubarov's works have become popular at home and abroad, and this is not surprising - he has extensive experience as an illustrator, in the 1970s and 1980s Lubarov illustrated many works by various writers, and his drawings for “Russian Proverbs” by Appletree Press became a world bestseller.
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