ANDREI PROTSOUK

Born in the Ukraine, Andrei Protsouk graduated from the Lugansk State School of Fine Art in 1981. He received his Master’s degree in Fine Art from the Repin Academy of Art in St. Petersburg in 1990. His favored media is oil on linen, with heavy use of gold leaf in the manner of the revered traditional Russian iconographers.

Moving to the United States in 1994, Andrei found inspiration in his new experiences as an émigré. All human experience has connection with exterior objects, says Andrei, and these ordinary objects become mystical symbols in the hands of the artist. The transmutation of objects into symbols in Andrei’s work leads to an extraordinary artistic representation of human events and occurrences. The system of images, based on the things and objects is perfectly reflected by them. All our existence is related with things, and that’s why they grow as genuine symbols of life.

The application of objects as symbols in his paintings leads to the best reflection of extraordinary events and occurrences. The natural connection between the senses and the creatures represented by the images confirms for us the eternal connection between man and nature. The symbolic language in Andrei’s work is often easy to recognize consisting of men, women, and animals, but it is the juxtaposition, the mixing of the various elements, their nexus, their conflicting and at other times complementary nature, which reveals one of the integral themes in Andrei’s work

The artist presents love as an opposition of emotions, a collision of appetites, impulses, and feelings. The ancient theme of sexual tension and power invades the eternal struggle between men and women and is colorfully dramatic and playful in many of Andrei’s paintings. In his work, Andrei Protsouk had formulated an artistic system of “mystic and fantastic transformation” which provides us with a window to the artist’s soul and a glimpse into everyman’s inner life.

Andrei Protsouk has displayed his art in many solo exhibitions around the world: in Germany, Holland, Russia, Ukraine, and America. Andrei's works are a part of private and corporate collections including Aurora Publishing House; Academy of Art in New York City; Barcelona Museum of Art, Spain; Coca-Cola in Denmark; Italian Art and White Knights of Venice, Italy; Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick, NJ, USA; Museum of Art Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia; Johnnie Walker Expo Co, England; François Lang Art, Hamburg Germany; Art Connections, Zurich, Switzerland; and Vera Gallery, Aphine, Greece.