Fairytale realism
Artist Leonid Kuzmenko portrays reality the way he sees it with his heart
Who is a “People’s Artist”? Is this just a prestigious title or a person who never attended an art school, but who is capable of painting pictures that leave thousands breathless with admiration? A rhetorical question in regard to Leonid Kuzmenko. He was born in Sokyryntsi, a village in Sribne raion, Chernihiv oblast. The area is known for talented individuals, among them such well-known Ukrainian names as Hryhorii Galagan, patron of the arts, statesman, and public figure, and Ostap Veresai, poet and bandurist.
The folk artist Leonid Kuzmenko is locally known as a native talent. His favorite themes are landscape and still life, but sometimes he paints portraits. Art critics are convinced that the man depicts life using natural colors. He does not create fantasy forms and images, but adheres to the tenets of realistic art.
“I’d describe Kuzmenko’s style as absolute realism, although some of his canvases do not show the real world but a far better one. His each picture is imbued with warmth, verging on fairytale, born of the artist’s loving heart. This sincere and realistic approach contrasts with modern creative trends,” says art critic Valentyna SEMRYK.
Artist Leonid KUZMENKO: “Sometimes I feel as though I see things not with my eyes, but with my heart. I mean my eyes receive the optical signal, but before it reaches the brain, it passes through the heart. In all my pictures I try to convey a message of love for Ukraine because there is no other such country anywhere in the world. This isn’t banal phraseology, even though the modern world has made it the key standard.”
His fellow countrymen say Kuzmenko is the Nightingale of Sokyryntsi. At the peak of inspiration he paints bewitching landscapes that reflect the singular beauty of the environs. Kuzmenko believes that an artist should have professional training, but that it is not the main thing. In 1980, he studied at an art studio at the Zhovtnevy Palace of Art, under the able guidance of Vasyl Zabashta who held the then prestigious title “Merited Worker of Art.” In 1987, Kuzmenko graduated from the Moscow People’s University where he had studied by correspondence, majoring in easel painting and graphics. It was then he joined the local creative association Tvorchist. In his case education combined with talent.
Realism isn’t a trend likely to impress many these days, but Kuzmenko’s works remain very popular with the Ukrainian public. A number of his canvases are in private collections in Ukraine, Germany, Poland, and the US.
