NYAB Event - Valery Yershov "Lost Wanderings"

Valery Yershov "Lost Wanderings"

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Yershov's paintings appeal to the viewer on both analytical and emotional levels while illuminating broad aspects of human experience. Artists, entrepreneurs, cowboys, historical figures and hippies are seen displaced from their usual environment and positioned among tree trunks of the forest. Yershov's imagery evokes a complex range of human emotions: danger, psychological discomfort, and hope. He does not depict leaves or branches on trees, thus depriving the forest of any temporal or seasonal changes; instead the permanence of nature as foregrounded in the outlines of rock-solid tall tree trunks is juxtaposed with the fragility and uncertainty of the individual, creating an evocative contrast. Certain subjects imbued with biographical history can elicits nostalgic memories of Yershov's childhood; remnants of the Russian empire allude to the cultural and historical memory during the tumultuous times of the Soviet era. Each generation and diaspora creates a unique cultural heritage, but once an individual is placed into a new system, he or she may experience a sense of insecurity and fear of an unknown future, thus resulting in feelings of loss, displacement and wandering. By placing characters into this nonrealistic space, Yeshov highlights a unique subjective human essence.

[Image: Valery Yershov "Immigrants" (2010) acrylic on canvas 42 x 62 in.]