About Youry Bondarenko

Born Moscow in 1952, Youry graduated from the Surikov Academy of Art with a classical art education in Russian realism, embracing the study of painting techniques and drawings by old European masters. Bondarenko's painting received accolades from the press and his colleagues, in 1982 he became a Member of the Artists's Union. Since 1984, he has participated in all the major art exhibitions in Russia and has had solo shows in Moscow, Great Britain, Spain, Japan, Cyprus, Sweden, Austria, France and others. His landscapes, still lifes and portraits are in private collections all over the world and some of his historical paintings are seen in Russian museums.

Youry Bondarenko belongs to a most interesting generation of Russian Artists. His artistic career began in the 1970s. His studies at the Moscow State Art Academy named after V. Surikov enabled him to arrive at a new level of artistic perfection that included a study of the painting and drawing techniques of the Old Masters, a profound analysis of the principles of compositional arrangement.

According to the concept of traditional realist art shared by Youry Bondarenko, portraiture occupies a prominent place in his painting. The painter's mastery extends the confines of the moment and the portrait appears to have a wider, more substantial message than a mere recording of the model's state at that particular moment of time. As a result, the subject with all his or her many-sided character becomes comprehensible to the viewer.

He is, in short, an accomplished and extremely talented artist who continues the traditions of the Russian school of painting.