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Vladlen Gavrilchik. «MEMORIA»

   In the life of a creative man, the 75th anniversary marks the third awkward age. At the age of 15 you defy the world, at 55 the same world crowns your iron-grey hair with tin-laurels, and at 75 you are either consigned to oblivion or get represented in bronze.
Vladlen Gavrilchik, a Leningrad/Petersburg artist, is exactly 75 on the 27th of November. He is much loved and well-known, and, luckily, hasn't made a bronze statue yet. There is still much of a 15-year-old youngster in him. Vladlen Vasilievich can go intellectualizing, and recite verse, and listen to Katya Lel. Whatever he does, he is equally enthusiastic about it.
The boundary line threaded the life of Vladlen Gavrilchik. He was born in 1929 to the family of a frontier-guard. He was born into this world not in a maternity ward, as was the practice with all Soviet children, but in a caravan-serai located between an outpost and the town of Termez (Uzbekistan). After completing his studies at Tashkent Suvorov School he went to the Marine College in Leningrad. Then he spent long years of service at the frontier in the Far East.
Apart from geographical, there were other boundaries in his life. There was an inner dividing line that distinguished the man in him from the obedient martinet. Deep inside, the artist was brewing, and in the early 1960s this artist killed the lieutenant in him.
In the early 1960s Vladlen Gavrilchik started painting — everything that came his way: he drew pictures after photos in newspapers, reproductions in magazines. The Library of the Academy of Fine Arts and the Public Library made his «universities». Outside the «regs», Gavrilchik is no less marginal. What he creates or, rather, composes, baffles a clear-cut description — whether it is socialist realism, or primitivism, or historical painting, or economic realism. He also writes poems, books, studies the art of object, supervises a «drawing class». In fact, it is some kind of a borderline state, not creativity proper.
It is customary to class Vladlen Gavrilchik among socialist artists. But this master is too complex and multifaceted to become anything of the kind. Socialist art is a sharp-toothed grin at bronze leaders. Yet his painting lacks pungent irony, nor is it covered with the patina of monuments. Everything looks snug and friendly, and, which is more important, sincere.
His painting is easily distinguished from that of other Leningrad independent artists. He is both inside and outside the non-official school. The explanation is simple: Gavrilchik is a self-taught painter. He achieved everything on his own and, luckily, has never been under the influence of his colleagues. He borrows from history everything that interests him — from old Russian icons and portraiture to surrealism, and becomes what he actually is — Vladlen Gavrilchik.
«I am not a professional artist», he admits, «I am an amateur — that is, what the word derived from »amare«, to love, suggests. I choose subjects I like and then I paint, that is why my painting is variegated. And I never follow the band, so, for instance, I detest post-modernism. It is not sufficient for me. I am the king, let pawns engage in postmodernism».
To see whether these word are true one may visit the KvadraT Gallery, which on 17th October opens an exhibition timed for the 75th anniversary of Vladlen Gavrilchik.