Valery Tarasenko is a Russian cartoonist whose works have repeatedly appeared on the pages of the most popular Russian publications: “Izvestia”, ‘Komsomolskaya Pravda’, ‘Ogonyok’, ‘Rabotnitsa’, ‘Krokodil’. All in all, he drew about 8 thousand caricatures during his life, and he is not going to stop there.
He has been awarded many times with various medals, diplomas and Grand Prix at various cartoonists' exhibitions, including international ones. He was twice recognized as a winner of the Golden Calf award from the Literaturnaya Gazeta. In other words, we have before us a truly venerable master-professional who has given 35 years of his life to newspaper and magazine cartooning.
Tarasenko always manages to be modern and in demand, even if his approach to caricature has changed somewhat. In the perestroika era, the basis of his work was rather harsh satire, stigmatizing our shortcomings, but in the times of glasnost the public's demand for it was consistently high.
In the 90s, his art reflected the political realities of those years and became even more relaxed. Tarasenko was not afraid to draw nudity in his cartoons, but it was always conditioned by the situation at hand and humorously played up. Therefore, his cartoons, although quite frank, are not vulgar and very professional.
But the artist does not respect black humor, and he has very few cartoons on this subject. Perhaps this is an echo of the 90s, when there was plenty of black humor in ordinary life, and people wanted to see something more positive in cartoons.
In the noughties he changed the theme of his work. There was very little politics in his cartoons, although he did draw a series of drawings devoted to mocking Hitler in the spirit of the Soviet Kukryniks. But these were rather single orders, and the basis of his work became caricatures parodying various literary and fairy-tale characters. The result was an unexpected and very witty look at characters familiar to everyone since childhood.
However, sometimes Tarasenko draws pure absurdity, often with a certain lyrical message, which may not be too funny, but positive and instructive, causing a kind smile. And one can only wonder at the author's wit and his ability to think outside the box. However, these qualities are basic for any good cartoonist, without them it is impossible to succeed in this business.
Tarasenko's drawing is very simple, somewhat sloppy, but it works perfectly for the perception of the humorous situation shown in it. And his trademark features are present: it is difficult to confuse his work with anyone else's. But at the same time, his cartoons are carefully thought out compositionally, there is nothing superfluous in them, even the background in some of them is as impersonal as possible, giving the opportunity to focus on the main thing - the depicted characters and humor.
Tarasenko's caricatures are very laconic, the artist often does without clouds with inscriptions, and if there are any, the text on them is as short as possible. That is why his cartoons are understandable at first sight, although they cannot be called quite primitive and simple. For example, some of them give references to famous paintings like Edvard Munch's “The Scream” or works by René Magritte, and to understand the idea that Tarasenko put in them, you need to be “in the subject”.
Valery started drawing in kindergarten, but, as he admitted in an interview, it was only in the army that this activity gained some meaning. Then the man who produced the wall newspaper fell ill, and Tarasenko was told to replace him. Here he tried his best, giving free rein to his imagination and sense of humor, so that the newspaper was remembered for a long time. Since then, he has been trying to create in such a way: funny, witty and on the edge of what is allowed.
Then he studied at the Murmansk Naval Engineering School. Tarasenko began to draw caricatures on a professional level, they were willingly printed by all local newspapers, which gave him a good supplement to his student scholarship. At the same time, he worked as a photo correspondent and studied in absentia at the Moscow People's University of Arts and the University of Marxism-Leninism.
After graduating from college, he began working as a technologist on fishing vessels. But the 90s began and it turned out that caricatures paid much more, and censorship was absent at all and limited only by the artist's own notions of what was permissible. Not surprisingly, Tarasenko became a professional cartoonist, and collaborated with all of Russia's leading newspapers and magazines.
But even now, after 35 years of experience in this field, he is not going to stop at what he has achieved, even though he is already retired. He built a house in the Pskov region and lives there with his family, enjoys his well-deserved rest, and in order not to get bored and dull, he draws cartoons, which he posts on social networks and specialized sites.
Though they are not as satirically sharp as they used to be, but Tarasenko has not lost his sense of humor, and his bright and memorable caricatures bring a smile to many viewers who see them.
Buy handmade goods or modern art you can on artAlebrio - is an international marketplace for people who want to create, sell, buy and collect unique items and art - buy the best with us artAlebrio.com.
By confirming your order you unconditionally accept these General Conditions of Sale