After the exhibition, I wrote an article describing the best (in my opinion) paintings by Valentin Kudryashov. Among them were a portrait of a girl (the artist’s daughter, Alyona) with a resolute face and penetrating eyes so unlike a child’s, and another work created two years later portraying the girl laughing good-naturedly and infectiously; original still lifes ‘Artist’s Inspiration’ depicting a steaming cup of aromatic coffee, a clock, a palette-knife and a blank piece of paper with the idea of what a future painting will look like evolving in the air, and ‘Glasses’: the light from an electric bulb gracefully and playfully interacts with the clear glass… These and other works reflected the signature style of the refined artist, who was able to see beauty in the ordinary…
Valentin Kudryashov’s fellow artists were also impressed by his works. What is more, our publication was republished by other mass media (by the way, with some citing references to our newspaper and others not). Certainly, I was really delighted that the article had sparked the strong public interest in the artist’s creative work.
I often visit the Museum of Fine Arts as part of my work. Taking a tour of its halls, unconsciously to myself, I cast glances at the best-loved paintings as if greeting them: ‘A Road to Gerkez’, ‘Vineyards’ by Izzat Klychev, ‘Fishermen’ by Stanislav Babikov… Once, I stopped to took a close look at ‘A Road to Gerkez’, and read the artist’s name at last. Valentin Kudryashov!
The painting showed an Ailanthus tree with bluish flower heads standing and welcoming passers-by beside the mountain path, leading to the native village of the great poet Magtymguly, as the name suggested. The simple narrative content created by the master artist touched responsive chords in my heart. I realized how little I had known about Valentin Efremovich’s artistic career and I had got to know only one of the facets of his talent.
As fine art expert, Honored Art Worker of Turkmenistan Azat Annaev observed precisely, the career of Valentin Kudryashov started in the 1970s, when aesthetic values in fine art and the hierarchy of distinguished artists had been established. The then-young artist had to do his best to pursue his own path and not to lose himself among the leading authorities whose world views had dominant influence in art.
And Valentin Efremovich managed to succeed in this. Throughout his entire artistic career he remained true to himself. One of Kudryashov’s individual characteristics was that he painted only what he really loved regardless of imposed ideas. This is what Valentin Efremovich’s fellow students at art school still remember him for.
This does not mean that he was influenced only by his personal preferences, important changes and major achievements of the time are reflected in his oeuvre. However, Kudryashov perceived them through the prism of his outlook. The pathos of his paintings is subtle and poetic.
For instance, the artist’s painting ‘The Celebration’ radiates the energy and captures the joy of people gathering at the monument (created by Saragt Babaev in honor of the tenth anniversary the country’s anniversary) to mark the festive occasion. All the people in Valentin Efremovich’s multi-figure painting hold balloons floating above like colorful lace. Fluffy, beautifully-shaped clouds hovering over dynamic sculptures of Akhalteke horses appear to move towards the balloons…
Executed in deep and rich hues, ‘Parthian Expanses’ also boasts many dominant elements. It features a bird’s eye view of the vast panorama of poetically scenic foothills nearby the Turkmen capital. It is a symbolic representation of history and the present: the site of ancient Nisa, the Health Footpath, and the high flagpole with the State Flag of Turkmenistan flying on top.
Valentin Kudryashov, who died at 71, having left his “book” of scenic painterly narratives unfinished, will be remembered as a good-natured man with mischievous twinkles in his eyes… Despite his age and state of health, he had spent much time with his easel painting outdoors (en plein air) in the last years of his life. The artist communicated his non-trivial perception of well-known locations in his paintings. Taking a look at his landscape paintings, strikingly reminiscent of scenes from fantasy movies, you cannot help but wonder whether they feature landscapes of our native land. Yes! Add to that the artist’s broad vision, unusual angles and contextual associations…
Valentin Kudryashov might have felt autumn in his soul when he changed over from the bright emerald-green background to the fiery orange color. And the paintings ‘Parthia’, ‘Chuli. The Oak Grove’, ‘Spring in the Mountains’, and ‘Parthian Expanses’ with green as the dominant color gave place to the landscapes in fiery-gold hues: ‘Autumn in Bagir’, ‘Parthian Autumn’, and ‘Yas Khan’.
Throughout his career Valentin Efremovich often painted children. The artist’s sharp eye for spotting their behavioral traits, his imagination and childlike nature helped him to produce vivid portrayals. A notable example is a splendid work entitled ‘Happy Childhood’ showing boys and girls in a mulberry tree. No berries are depicted in the painting. The children’s happy faces smeared with inky black juice are seen through the tree branches instead. This gives the impression that their mischievous faces are the tree’s fruits.
Undeniably impressive is a series of paintings devoted to sport. The artist, who possessed special talent, could create an original still life, using ordinary sports equipment. His sportsmen look like people with extraordinary abilities, who belong to a special caste. Yet the artist himself was far from being a sports enthusiast.
A signature characteristic of suburban landscapes by Valentin Kudryashov is the wild onion that resembles a huge pink ball on a long slender stem. This exotic plant has now become a particular favorite among Turkmen artists, who often show it in their works.
One of the artist’s last paintings features a cat among plants surrounded by the fantastical aura of magic. The ordinary ginger cat looking at the grand megapolis seems to be there as though accidentally. Talya Fagimovna, Valentin Kudryashov’s wife, explaining the depiction of the cat said that her husband was immensely fond of the animals. Every evening he brought the stray cat that waited for him by a bench some delicious treats. Valentin Efremovich might have wanted to immortalize his four-legged friend in the painting.
Not only was Valentin Kudryashov a charismatic artist, but also a kind, sentimental, open-hearted and sincere person, who left behind the unique, metaphorical, poetic, exquisite and life-affirming legacy pulsating with his love of the world and art, and his love for all of us…
