Sofiya Bogdanova's video: Valentin Gubarev

Музыка из фильма "Золотая мина" The artistic talent of Valentin Gubarev is remarkably original. He is master of Aesopian language and oddball humour. The works of the artist convey his feelings and impressions of the real everyday life. He catches its interesting moments by his piercing and ironical sight. The touch of fairytale, parable, comical circumlocution helps hip to put the idea of a picture into viewers' mind. Each picture of the artist is an intricate composition of separate episodes closely or marginally connected with each other, plenty of expressive elements contribute to the opening of the theme of the picture. The more attentive you look at the picture the more meaningful it becomes. The meaning is in hiding of the anecdotal collision, the outer plainness conceals the inner tension, the underlying theme is always behind the outer shell. These are characteristic features of the works of Valentin Gubarev. His works are multi-layer and metamorphic. The pictures of V. Gubarev tell us the story about people, their surroundings, their way of life where it is always many of pathos and irony. Turning back to his childhood, reconstructing it in his thoughts the artist remembers ordinary but sweet to his heart details. His keenness of observation and ability to catch individuality of image, pose, gesture helps him in his work. Drawings of everyday life amaze viewers by sincerity and ingenuousness of perception and bright even gaudy palette gives solemnity to the total impression. Heroes of his pictures although act independently they connected by the common rhythm of life and times. Types are recognizable in spite of hyperbole which is used by the artist to strengthen the impression. But the artist doesn’t oppose himself to his heroes, he doesn’t criticize their morals and manners, he only depicts them as they are in comic situations which was peeped by him. Is it grotesque? Certainly it is. But it is not satire or pasquinade. Rather it is affection and unconcealed delight. In search of plastic language the painter used the experience of the world art culture, starting with rock carvings and to naïve folk paintings, including the crude coloured woodcuts with typical predilection for symmetry, whimsical pattern and explanatory notes. The roots of the Gubarev's painting are both professional fine art and folk traditions. One can draw parallels between his work and work of such well-known artists as Generalich, P. Breygel, A. Kish. Some of his works are painted in the form of “painted rugs” which were widely spread not only in Belarus and were made by talented masters. What is Valentin Gubarev in the art? Is he naivete or primitivity or just crude coloured woodcuts? To put it more precisely he is a peculiar play. Because his naivete is deliberate, his primitivity is intentional, his simplicity is seeming. And also jokingly but seriously he speaks with viewers about the past and the present, about us and our life. Larisa Boertnik arts critic