Leonid Afremov

Biography

Leonid Afremov Russian-American Painter

Afremov is a very prolific painter, he has made about 4,000 paintings since 1995. His style of painting has some influence from Marc Chagall, Monet, Renoir, Malevitch and other 19th century impressionists.

He likes to paint cityscapes, landscapes, seascapes and also he loves to paint portraits of musicians. He gets inspired by Jazz music and in fact he is a huge jazz fan.

His paintings have been in exhibitions all over the world. The history of his life has inspired several documentaries and videos that describe his personality, the places to where he has travelled and his anecdotes.

Leonid uses palette-knife instead of regular brushes to put paint on canvas. Palette-knife itself is intended to be used for cleaning old paint from canvas.

It is very rare that any artist ventures to use it as an instrument in painting together with a brush, and it is even more rare that any artist uses it as his only instrument.

Afremov personality reflects his unusual technique which was developed and perfected many over years of hard work. His artistic style is unique and easily recognized.

Working with palette-knife gives fantastic possibilities, but it is also fantastically difficult to master. It took 10 years for Leonid Afremov to build up his palette-knife handling skill up to the level that it is now.

Looking at the paintings of Leonid Afremov, it is difficult to believe that all small details on them were literally carved out from paint with little steel blades, the smallest of which is only 1.5 inches long.

His painting technique is accepted by specialists to be completely unique and not capable of being copied. He even does not really need to sign his artwork, it impossible to confuse it with other painters work or to forge.

By the words of the Artist, he enjoys traveling most of anything else. Traveling fills out his soul with all the energy he needs to create fabulous art.

Biography

Leonid was born in city of Vitebsk, Belarus in 1955, the same town where Marc Chagall was born.

His parents were Bella and Arkadi Afremov. They were not artists. His mother was an engineer and his father was a shoemaker.

He started painting when he was seven years old in elementary school.

Initially, he took painting lessons in high school and after that, he studied at the “Vitebsk Art Institute”, founded by Marc Chagall in 1918.

During the soviet times in Russia, education was completely free and even after graduating, he was able to get a job assigned by the government.

He graduated in 1979 from the Vitebsk Art School, his major was in Art Education. He was trained more to be a teacher than an artist.

During his college years and a little bit afterwards, he started working making theatrical sets and official propaganda posters

Leonid had been building up his experience by painting a lot with oil and participating in various exhibitions since 1977.

His talent achieved its real heights, when he moved to Israel in 1990. Almost immediately, he found employment with a local advertising agency painting billboards.

The scorching southern sun filled with colors and brightness made Leonid's paintings positive and joyous. The artist himself is a convinced optimist and this can be easily seen in his creative artworks. His paintings make viewers feel lighter and more positive.

Shortly after, Afremov moved once again, this time to the United States, where he established his residence in Boca-Raton, Florida. He works with galleries in USA and Europe that exhibit his work in museums.

“I am currently living in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico. I love the Caribbean sea, and all my life I dreamt of living on the coast of this sea. I am in the process of building a little all inclusive art retreat in the jungle near Cancun”. (Leonid Afremov, February 2011)

Group Exhibitions in the former USSR:

1977 Students' Anniversary Exhibition, Vitebsk 1988 Exhibition of Soviet Artists' Union, Vitebsk 1989 Exhibition of Soviet Artists' Union, Vitebsk 1990 Exhibition of Soviet Artists' Union, Vitebsk 1989 Exhibition of Judaica-based Paintings, Moscow

Group Exhibitions in Israel:

1991 Amaliya Alber Art Gallery 1992 Exhibition of Judaica-based Paintings, Ramat-Gan Museum 1994 Exhibition of Judaica-based Paintings, Tel-Aviv Museum 1997 Anniversary Exhibition, Ashdod Museum

Personal Exhibitions in Israel:

1991 Arts Center, Ramat-Gan 1993 "Gistadrut" Club, Tel-Aviv1994 "Lapid" Art Gallery, Ashdod1995 "Dilon" Art Gallery, Jaffo1996 "Dilon" Art Gallery, Jaffo1997 "Beit Opera" Art Gallery, Tel-Aviv 1998 "Beit Opera" Art Gallery, Tel-Aviv 1999 “Ofir" Art Gallery, Ramat-Aviv 2000 Tel-Aviv Museum 2001 Ashdol Museum

Leonid Afremov in his own words:

“I enjoy painting cityscapes, landscapes and seascapes. I also love painting portraits of musicians.

I paint because this is what I love to do. I have been painting since I was a kid and my dream was to become a well known professional artist.”

The love for life and art inspires me to create the most. I also get inspired form Jazz music. I am a huge jazz fan.

In my art, I am looking to express my inner self and create a moving illusion in a painting. I like making my art so that you can feel and see the action in the painting in motion.

I have tried different techniques during my career, but I especially fell in love with painting with oil and pallette-knife”.

“Every artwork is the result of long painting process; every canvas is born during the creative search; every painting is full of my inner world.

Each of my paintings brings different mood, colors and emotions.

I love to express the beauty, harmony and spirit of this world in my paintings. My heart is completely open to art.

Thus, I enjoy creating inspired and beautiful paintings from the bottom of my soul. Each of my artworks reflects my feelings, sensitivity, passion, and the music from my soul.

True art is alive and inspired by humanity. I believe that art helps us to be free from aggression and depression.”

Paintings Gallery

Blue Rhapsody

Amsterdam Night

Ballerina

Fishing on the lake

Corsica

Rainy Evening

Music Band

Landscape

Night Enigma

Saventem Castle - Brussels

Golden Gate Bridge

Roses & Wine

Bridges of Amsterdam

Lonely Park at Night

Sunset in Barcelona

Tango

Two Sisters

Central Park

Paris

Copenhagen Harbor

Bruges – The Northern Venice

Bibliographyhttp://www.afremov.com/

Music:Beethoven’s Silence – Ernesto CortazarMusical Offering - Canon 2, Johann Sebastian BachCello Suite No.1 – Prelude, Johann Sebastian Bach

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AVM 090211