“Ordinary-extraordinary” by Slava Likhachyov

In the run-up to the New Year holidays, the legendary Illusion Cinema hosted "The Ordinary and the Extraordinary," an exhibition by watercolorist Slava Likhachyov.

Slava Likhachyov began painting in early childhood—first at art school, then at art college, and later at the Stroganov Institute. From 1997 to 2013, he lived and worked in San Francisco, where he took part in group exhibitions and won several design competitions. After returning to Moscow, Slava decided to fulfill his childhood dream of becoming an animator; he now works successfully at the KINOATIS animation studio, part of the Gorky Film Studio, while also creating landscapes, sketches, and caricatures alongside his main occupation, predominantly in watercolor.

Slava Likhachyov: "Many years ago, I came to Penza to visit my parents, and my father took some Soviet-era watercolor paper out of a cupboard. I was delighted by its quality and immediately created my first watercolor. I have painted every day ever since. Watercolor—especially the wet-on-wet technique—is a demanding medium, and not everyone can master it. But I seem to have found my way with it."

A passion for new impressions, extensive travels, a desire to discern the extraordinary in the everyday, and the artist’s rich imagination formed the foundation of Slava Likhachyov’s solo exhibition, "The Ordinary and the Extraordinary."

Slava’s fantastical, airy, and mesmerizing works presented at the exhibition made a wonderful gift for the approaching holidays! More of Slava’s works can be viewed in the website catalogue.