Surrealistic Artist Inspiration

Vladimir Kush is a surrealist painter and sculptor who was born in Russia in 1965 near the Moscow forest park, Sokolniki. At the age of 7, he began to attend art school until evening, where he learned about famous artists of the Renassiance, Impressionists, and modern artists. He entered the Moscow Higher Art and Craft School at 17, but he was conscripted a year later. His unit commander thought it more approriate for Kush to paint propagandistic posters. After military service and graduating from the Institute of Fine Arts, he worked on portraits to support his family. In 1987, Kush began to participate in exhibitions, and in 1990, he flew to Los Angeles where 20 of his works were displayed and began his "American Odyssey." When Kush's originality in his work was finally recognized, more exhibitions were organized for him, and soon he had a new start in USA, opening his first gallery in Hawaii. Kush focuses on the medium of oil-painting, and he considers his artwork as "metaphorical realism."

Sarolta Bán is a self-taught, surrealist photographer/photo manipulator. She was born in 1982 in Budapest, Hungary. Bán was originally a jewelry designer, but discovered her passion in photo manipulation. She usually works on an image from a few hours to a couple of days and uses up to 100 different layers for one picture. She combines elements to create stories and personalities but also hopes that the meaning of her pictures are "never too limited" and "open in some way." Her images often depict dream-like situations. She has exhibits throughout Japan, Luxembourg, and Hungary, and in 2011, she was recognized as the "Best Young Talent" by Elle Magazine. 

Arist's Name: Vladimir Kush

Title: Sunrise By the Ocean

Date: Unknown

Description: The egg is split in two, and the components of the egg blend in with the surrounding environment. There are men working on the sides of the egg shells, and the sun is rising in the middle, spreading its rays throughout the sky and clouds. You can also see a man pulling his boat toward the beach.

Analysis: The painting is horizontally symmetrical, with the halves of the egg on either side and the sun right in the center. Veritcally, the composition is asymmetrical, with the sand and water on the bottom half and the sky, clouds, and sun on the upper half. There is definitely emphasis on the sun and the egg shells, for I noticed them first when looking at the painting. There is much color saturation accompanied  with warm hues.

Interpretation: I find that the meaning of this piece shows the creation of life. The components of the egg create the environment: the sun arises from the yoke, and the water and parts of the sky arise from the egg white (albumen). The egg itself helped create this beach and its individual parts. The bright, warm colors instill a sense of home and refuge. Moreover, I believe the men working by the egg shells are starting to build their home's foundation.

Judgement: Kush was successful in creating this piece. He shows the beauty of new life and the creation of the earth's elements. I feel as if though this piece has mythical/cultural reasoning behind it, and he successfully expresses this through its agricultural and ancient tone. He creatively combines elements (the egg and the beach) that surprisingly correlate with each other beautifully.




Arist's Name: Sarolta Bán

Title: Unknown

Date: June 22, 2009

Description: The child is flying on an origami crane above waves of water. Behind her are sharp rocks and ridges, where the waves crash upon, and it looks like light is shining on her from above.

Analysis: This piece is asymmetrical vertically, serving as a precursor to the photographer's rule of thirds. On the other hand, the picture is symmetrical horizontally, with the main subject on the center, and the water and rocks are on both sides. The colors are bright, cold, and dull (white, blue, brown).

Interpretation: Bán's picture gives me a sense of adventure and wanderlust. The fact that she uses an origami as the child's source of transportation reminds me of childhood, creativity, and imagination. Furthermore, the seemingly dangerous environment instills a feeling of challenge, adventure, and youth. Nevertheless, the faint rays of light that shine upon the girl ensures hope and guidance.

Judgement: Overall, Bán's composition successfully combines different parts and elements of pictures to create a story of the adventurous and imaginative disposition of a child. I think this picture shows the "child" in all of us, showing how we can get through life's journey and its challenges with a bit of creativity, courage, and hope. Her balanced use of tone, colors, and sharpness further emphasizes the theme of youthful and daring adventures.

Kush and Bán are clearly two very different artists. Kush uses the medium of paint and carefully plans out his work before beginning. Many of his paintings have a cultural and old-fashioned feel, with ancient truths and stories behind them. Kush tells stories to people by painting together completely different objects and elements that would originally seem to have no connection, but he successfully blends in various subjects to create one, balanced and well-thought composition. On the other hand, Bán uses photography as her medium. She takes pictures of different places, people, and things and combines them to come up with a story. Unlike Kush, Bán tends to start with a tiny idea that becomes more complex and widely interpretative later on. Because she is younger than Kush, she tends to be more of a modern artist as a photographer/photo manipulator. Her photographs are crisp and of modern quality. While Kush's paintings seem to have specific stories and purpose behind them, Bán's pictures have widespread and limitless meaning, where anyone can derive different interpretations on a broad spectrum. Both artists have genuine originality, and they take elements from the unreal to create purposeful and expressive artwork that sprouts from the imagination.