Georgy spent his childhood on the Petrograd Side, to the north of the city, in a tiny little flat with windows that looked out onto an even tinier courtyard. As far as he recalls, he modelled things in plasticine and drew resting on the vast wooden windowsills. Not so much aesthetic pastimes as compensations for the grey minimalism of everyday life, the absence of light and bright colours.
At thirteen years old his mother put him in the art school attached to the Academy of Arts. At the interview it was politely explained that there was nothing for Georgy in the painting department since he had a total lack of feeling for colour. So they suggested Georgy Kurasov join the sculpture class.
In some way he was pleased, since all the painted images they showed him seemed terribly boring, and Georgy had great interest in form.
That was when he began his professional training.
In 1977 Georgy Kurasov entered the sculpture department of the Academy of Arts.
He spent six years in the vast studio of a building erected during the time of Catherine the Great, in the late 18th century. Those gloomy, narrow, incredibly high vaulted corridors, the vast, cold, grimy studios, everything was inhabited by the ghosts of long dead masters of ages past, whose influence was far more real than the insignificant apologists of Socialist Realism and of Marxist-Leninist aesthetics. The Academy was a solid amalgamation of temple to and prison of the arts.
Yet those years in the Academy were the best years of his life. Nearly all Georgy’s friends and colleagues date from those years.
The circles he moved in were intellectual, talented, young – which meant free, with the exception of the one or two informers that were simply an obligatory element of life in those years and did little to alter the overall picture.
It was then that Georgy met his wonderful Zina, who was later to occupy nearly all his space, both physical, in his life, and creative, in his works.
Almost immediately after his diploma Georgy Kurasov was called up for army service, but even there he was armed not with a rifle but with paints, since he was lucky enough to be appointed Court Artist to his general.
In 1984 Georgy Kurasov was at last demobbed. He was free.
Over the next few years he took part in all kinds of exhibitions and competitions in order to score the Brownie points necessary to gain membership of the Union of Artists, since that was more or less the only way of being allocated a separate studio.
It was not the easiest of times. In order to take part in exhibitions you had to have something to display. And in order to create that something to display, you had to have a place in which to create it. Georgy had nowhere.
At last, however, he managed to join the happy ranks of members of the Union of Artists, was allocated his tiny studio, and thought he was at the very peak of happiness. All around him the country was in turmoil, at the very heights of Gorbachev’s ‘perestroika’, people passionately quenching their thirst for information whilst battling with a hunger of somewhat more concrete physical nature caused by food shortages.
Things were now rather difficult for artists, particularly as far as sculpture was concerned. Sculpture, as is well known, is an art form for either rich or totalitarian states. The totalitarian state had ceased to exist but it had not become rich.
“The Battle Centaurs with Amazon” in progress
ARtWork on Display
Icarus, The Son of Daedalus
Icarus, The Son of Daedalus
Icarus, The Son of Daedalus
“Icarus, the Son of Daedalus” is the painting by the talented and well-known modern artist Georgy Kurasov.
It is based on a famous Greek myth about the first people flying in the sky, Daedalus and his son Icarus.
Daedalus was a mythical, outstanding inventor, sculptor and architect, who was held captive with his son Icarus on the Greek Island, Crete by King Minos. He was the first to create two sets of wings made of different feathers, ropes and wax. His genius inventions had one fault. Daedalus warned his son not to fly too low to the sea, as it would make the feathers wet and too heavy, and neither to close to the sun, as it would melt the wax and ruin the wings.
Together they flew out of their prison tower toward freedom, leaving Crete. However, Icarus soon got overexcited and forgot his father’s warning. He started flying higher and higher, until the wax started melting under the scorching sun. Soon his wings dissolved, he fell into the sea and drowned.
Georgy Kurasov depicts the tragic figure of Icarus flying between two powerful forces, the water and the sun. Kurasov emphasizes the danger of hubris or excessive pride and warns the viewers against recklessness and carelessness. The composition and the choice of colors of this masterpiece are kind of unusual for the artist. The lines and directions on the blue field on the left are pointed upward in strong joyful movement, emphasizing the greatness of the human spirit and the desire for freedom. Meanwhile coarse pointy lines on the orange right side reveal tension, despair, pain and hopelessness, leading Icarus to his tragic end.
Icarus represents human ambitions, our tendency to overestimate our abilities and take unnecessary risks, ignoring the advice of wisdom and expertise. The myth gave rise to the idiom,” don’t fly too close to the sun”, meaning that recklessness, defiance of limitations and overly ambitious actions can be harmful and destructive.
Written by Alina Vinokur in commentary of Georgy Kurasov’s “Icarus”
*Oil on canvas, gold leaf
The Sin Fall
Icarus, The Son of Daedalus
Icarus, The Son of Daedalus
“The Sin Fall” is a painting by the famous and talented modern artist Georgy Kurasov. The painting is the artist’s original interpretation of the biblical story of Adam and Eve and their expulsion from paradise.
Georgy Kurasov divides the composition into light and dark fields symbolizing good and evil, as well as the duality of human existence. The sunlit golden background on the left represents the lost paradise, symbolizing the loss of innocence and abundance of heaven. The dark colors on the right highlight dark forces, fear, suffering and the mortality of earthy existence.
Kurasov illustrates his idea by depicting two figures of Adam and Eve in a tight embrace. In their nakedness, they embrace and realize their masculine and feminine natures, as well as their power to govern themselves.
Eve is holding the Forbidden Fruit depicted in green color, symbolizing the spiritual dimension and a longing for knowledge, new ideas and progress. God warned the couple not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge or they would die, but their natural curiosity and desire for awareness didn’t stop them from making the first conscious choice to be free.
From now on Adam and Eve would suffer the consequence of their sin and rely on each other in their earthy existence. Adam and Eve also found love and freedom and would complement each other as Yin and Yang, bearing children as the fruits of their love. They received the freedom of choice and the power of the Creator for all future generations. From that moment we are their descendants and can make the world around us good or evil.
Georgy Kurasov invites us to be conscious and responsible for our actions, thoughts and choices.
*Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"INSOMNIA"
"Judgment of Paris"
"Judgment of Paris"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"Judgment of Paris"
"Judgment of Paris"
"Judgment of Paris"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"Shadows"
"Judgment of Paris"
"Portrait of the Alchemist's Wife"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"Portrait of the Alchemist's Wife"
"Portrait of the Alchemist's Wife"
"Portrait of the Alchemist's Wife"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"Toccata and Fugue"
"Portrait of the Alchemist's Wife"
"Toccata and Fugue"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"TWINS"
"Portrait of the Alchemist's Wife"
"Toccata and Fugue"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"Expectations"
"Expectations"
"Expectations"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"Tango-Jazz"
"Expectations"
"Expectations"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"The Dance"
"Expectations"
"The Dance"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"CHESS"
"Analytic research of building Baroque’s composition"
"Analytic research of building Baroque’s composition"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"Analytic research of building Baroque’s composition"
"Analytic research of building Baroque’s composition"
"Analytic research of building Baroque’s composition"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"Moonlit Night"
"The Pacification of the Cretan Bull. Hercules Feat #7"
"The Pacification of the Cretan Bull. Hercules Feat #7"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"The Pacification of the Cretan Bull. Hercules Feat #7"
"The Pacification of the Cretan Bull. Hercules Feat #7"
"The Pacification of the Cretan Bull. Hercules Feat #7"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"Decline of Empire"
"The Pacification of the Cretan Bull. Hercules Feat #7"
"Decline of Empire"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"Stewardess"
"Business Brunch"
"Before Warm Up"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"Before Warm Up"
"Business Brunch"
"Before Warm Up"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"Business Brunch"
"Business Brunch"
"Business Brunch"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"Cassandra"
"The Birth of Myth"
"The Birth of Myth"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"The Birth of Myth"
"The Birth of Myth"
"The Birth of Myth"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"Lady Godiva"
"The Birth of Myth"
"Lady Godiva"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"The rape of Europe"
"The Queen's autumn visit"
"The rape of Europe"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"Annunciation"
"The Queen's autumn visit"
"The rape of Europe"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"The Queen's autumn visit"
"The Queen's autumn visit"
"The Queen's autumn visit"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"SCALES"
"The Balance"
"The Balance"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"The Balance"
"The Balance"
"The Balance"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"WAITING"
"The Balance"
"WAITING"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"Loneliness"
"Loneliness"
"Loneliness"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"Dead End"
"Loneliness"
"Loneliness"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"Ariadne"
"Loneliness"
"Ariadne"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"Metamorphosis"
"Metamorphosis"
"Metamorphosis"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf
"Metamorphosis"
"Metamorphosis"
Oil on canvas, gold leaf