Andrey Chikachev is one of the most successfull fine artists in the Republic of Sakha-Yakutia. He’s prominent for his paintings depicting the daily life in Yakutian villages and portraiting expressive people.

He was born in 1967. A member of the Russian Union of Artists. Graduated from Yakutsk Fine Arts College (1988), Pr. S. Litvinov’s workshop at the Far Eastern Arts Institute (1994). Exhibited his works within Russia and partly abroad.

In other words, enjoy Andrey Chikachev’s art works. Pictures were taken by Ajar Varlamov during yesterday’s personal exhibit grand opening.

Read the rest of this entry…

Yuri Sleptsov, a Siberian artist based in Yakutsk, Russia

Hereby I present Yuri Sleptsov‘s art works. His drawings are done on a plastic board with the use of a scalpel. Such a technique is called scratchboard or scraperboard (grattazh, in Russian). Learn more about it on Wiki.

Yuri prefers to use the plastic, as it provides the sharp contrast between white lines and the black inked background. This technique is used very rarely. The drawing might be created in the course of several weeks, months or even year. A hard work. One little mistake might spoil the whole art piece.

Yuri Sleptsov started drawing in the scraperboard style in 1991. Since that, he participated in many various exhibits and was awarded for originality and fine technique.

He didn’t graduate any arts schools. Yuri used to be an economist, retailor, auditor. Currently, he is devoted to ethnographic researches. Does a lot to keep Eveni children’s summer nomad camp in Momsky region, North-East Yakutia.

Read the rest of this entry…

Shaman image. 1992-1993. Oil painting. 118 x 93.

Alexander Khodulov was a Yakutian artist, who lived from 1962 till 2003. His preferred genres were portrait, landscape scenery, still life, etc.

He was born in Yakutsk. In the family of the outstanding USSR national artist Dmitry F. Khodulov. Graduated Children Art School, Yakutsk Art College (1981), the Surikov Art Institute in Moscow (1987). A member of the Sakha Republic Artist Union since 1993.

Read the rest of this entry…

Evgenia Arbugaeva, a Yakutian photographer, keeps stunning us all the time. In September — October, she is exhibiting her pictures from the project «Tiksi In Winter» in Toronto, Canada. Her photo exhibit will be a part of so-called Days of Sakha-Yakutia at Bezpala Brown Gallery.

Days of Sakha-Yakutia at Bezpala Brown Gallery
Sept. 30-Oct. 9; Oct. 15-30, 17 Church St., Toronto; bezpalabrown.com

If you are in Toronto, don’t miss a chance to see her images of the Russian Arctic seaport of Tiksi located in Yakutia in the area of the Lena Delta.

Some of Evgenia’s photographs you might see right now.

Read the rest of this entry…

On July 15th, 2011, a Yakutian artist, Olga Monastyreva, & her husband, Patrick Stoop, have officially open the Artepol art galley inside the restored station in Lissewege, Belgium. Actually, what they created might be called the Art Station.

Here is the story. Read the rest of this entry…

Yakutia Wild Life, a new comic strip project done in English. P.S. Click the photo to see in the origin size.

A friend of mine, Arsen Tomsky, initiated the new project called Yakutia’s Wild Life. It is the series of black-and-white comic strips about living in the coldest Siberian region. Done in English and in the way of positive jokes. Read the rest of this entry…

Enjoy khomus (Yakut Jew’s harp) music and images of Yakutia in the amazing video slideshow created by Marianna Leontieva in 2008. The author lives in Moscow and she called the video «Khomus… A Yakutian’s Nostalgia…» Think, no additional info is required.

By the way, Yakutsk will host the 7th International Jew’s Harp Society Congress on June 23-26, 2011. It will be held right before the Yasyakh national holiday celebration in the area of Ys Khatyn near Yakutsk. My god, my fingers are crossed, don’t want to miss this must-be-awesome event.

Download the Congress Program (pdf, 525 Kb).

This time we proudly present another talented young artist from the Siberian region of Yakutia. It’s Anna Osipova (her page at ArtBreak.com).

Anna graduated the Far Eastern State Academy of Arts. Currently she creates her masterpieces at the Ural-Siberian studio of the Russian Academy of Artists. Her early works were inspired by the North and reindeer herders’ life. How it was strong, check yourself.

Below find Anna Osipova’s paintings. Read the rest of this entry…

These pictures are from Evgenia Arbugaeva‘s photo book «Following the Reindeer» (141 pages) that depicts the daily life of the Even reindeer herders in the mountain area around the settlement of Topolinoe in Tomponsky region (two days by a car from Yakutsk) in Russia’s Siberian republic of Yakutia.

Evgenia is a young photographer from Yakutsk. Currently, she lives in New York City. She is a graduate of the International Center of Photography.

A few months ago, she presented a few pics from her personal photo book «Following the Reindeer» and won the Lens Culture FotoFest Paris 2010 Blurb Photobook Prize. The prize will enable her to design, print, market and distribute her own photobook with Blurb.com, the online publishing-on-demand photobook company.

She is really a cool photographer. She dislikes work in the studio. She prefers to be on the field and make photo stories… and not like ordinary photo reportages, but as pieces of arts.

Evgenia, by the way, is the first local photographer, whom I featured online since 2002. Know her personally. Some her pictures might be seen on my old website YakutiaToday.com.

Below see more photographs of Siberian reindeer herders and their kids.

Read the rest of this entry…

Proudly present the «Artists of Yakutia & Self-Portraits» art exhibit taken place two months ago at the Yrgel art gallery in Yakutsk, Siberia/Russia.

Follow the link to see 42 paintings and installations in Ajar Varlamov’s pictures. Read the rest of this entry…