Vladimir Potapov

V

ivid original images of the works by Valery Okarsky are both playful and ironic. And they are reminiscent of the American pop-art of the 1960s. But at the same time they differ from it by the deep penetration into the purely Russian reality, by the philosophical look at everyday things.

Valery Okarsky was born in Kazakhstan. "My grandfathers, grandmothers and my parents are of the Polish nationality", says Valery. "In the late 1930s they were subjected to repression and deported from Ukraine’s west to Kazakh steppes. Later, they were rehabilitated but it did not make sense already to get back to the homeland. So, they stayed on in Kazakhstan for good. Grandpa Bernard was a village blacksmith and played a clarinet beautifully. He lived for over 90 years. Other relatives also played different musical instruments but I was never inspired by music. I spent my childhood in a small village near the city of Tselinograd (now the city is called Astana and it is the new capital of Kazakhstan). It was a happy carefree time, as I spent whole days playing soccer, mushrooming, fishing. Like all other kids, I was trying to draw something. I went in for sports till I was 30 years old and left for the town of Volgodonsk. In addition to soccer, I played hockey, volleyball".
Precisely in Volgodonsk Okarsky was formed as an artist, his passion for the small plastic art was born. He had to master new technologies all by himself: to study properties of metals, galvanoplastic and galvanostegy. For this purpose he had to surround himself with books, to accumulate an experience. "I made thousands of experiments described in formulas; they would be sufficient for getting a scientific degree", jokes Valery. In his words, the studio was turned into a laboratory, while the apartment became a technical book library.
"In 1985 in Tselenograd I graduated from a specialized college with a diploma of graphic designer. But quite soon I grew bored with stands, posters. I found my real vocation in working with metals and I have been doing this for over 20 years already", says Valery Okarsky. "In the beginning I was carried away by interior decorations: chandeliers, lamp-brackets, wall panels, coats of arms. But about 8 years ago I realized that I was doing all this to orders from others. And so I decided to do only what I personally wanted to do, to do things, which interested me and through which I could convey my own vision of the world. By that time I already mastered the craft. In addition to metals, I deal with hot enamel. And lately I got interested in painting".
The modern art, which appears as some complex mobile and live organism, cannot be discussed in usual categories that were developed for decades and even centuries. Words like "painting", "sculpture", "canvas", "palette", "manner" either mean nothing or their meaning is too general.
Arts experts have a difficulty with unambiguously defining Okarsky’s style and genre. "I use humor when doing many things", concedes the master himself. "But the main thing that interests me is the inner world of a human being, his understanding or misunderstanding of why he has come to this world, of what he would like to leave after himself".
The participation in a number of exhibitions in Russia and abroad has brought success to the sculptor, who has been highly appraised by specialists. Ordinary spectators also do not remain indifferent to his works. Erasion of the distinction between the elite- and mass-oriented destinations of works, when complex philosophical notions get a simple, accessible shape, lets rank Okarsky among followers of the postmodernism. Although he himself does not think about choosing direction in the complex world of the modern art.
Talent is always a miracle, which cannot remain unnoticed and disappear without a trace. Valery Okarsky has been lucky: he already has his own school and, what is more, the whole dynasty. "Most of my latest creations is a joint work with my son Evgeny", says Okarsky. "So far he is the only person, with whom I can work fruitfully. He is a hard-working, true friend with brains and magical hands. I hope that, as years go by, he will be getting more successful than me".
Okarsky, the junior: "My recollections of the childhood start with the father’s studio, smell of metals and chemical reagents. That is why it happened naturally that I started to perceive my father’s work as my own and I just cannot imagine myself being without it. Even the enthusiasm for computer that came later could not affect my interest in working with metals. I love the creative search process: getting an idea to create this or that thing (and in this respect my father is an inexhaustible generator); working on a sketch; developing technology; producing and perfecting a new creation. Practically all our works are done on the single-copy basis. We make them again very rarely".
At present, the Okarsky studio is working with enamels. The father and his son are trying to make a single whole of form and color.
The family’s artistic "clan" is growing: the other son, Vitaly, is also joining it, although he is more interested in painting. He is a student of a specialized college and recently has won a prize at the regional contest in the drawing, painting and composition categories.
"I always had a strong desire to create. But I always realized, how short the life is. That is why now I am trying to teach my children everything that I can do so as to provide them with an opportunity to move further", says Valery Okarsky. "In my opinion, the most common mistake is that we teach children how to do things, while the most important is to teach them what to do!".
He again recalls his father and his mother: "It seems to me that what my parents taught me was the most fortunate. And that is to be an honest, diligent man. I have been living in this world for almost fifty years already and I have not sold out my soul to the Satan. All that I have had time to do is to tell others about it. Maybe, the world will become a little better, a little more beautiful and humane".
Valery says that he often gets invitations to participate in prestigious exhibitions abroad: in New York, Boston, Miami, Rotterdam, London… According to the letter that he received, a London gallery was choosing artists for cooperation and Okarsky became the one among the world’s 900 contenders, who received the offer. "I was sincerely happy being among the chosen ones, but right now I do not have financial resources to participate in such events", says he.
Last year at the festival of bardic songs he presented his work to the contest winner. The festival’s jury included Alfred Talkovsky, the famous bard from Saint Petersburg. "We did not know each other before but there he came up to me, right on the stage, and embraced as an old friend. Then, he said to the audience: "Look at this man. He is the last one, who does not sell copper – he makes great things of it!".
Before our conversation ended, Valery Okarsky agreed to say a few words more about himself: "My life is centered exclusively on my family, my home and my studio. When I have a free time, I watch such TV programs as Discovery, Live Nature. I am a fan of the winter fishing and I do it, when I can afford this pleasure.
I am happy in my own way by living in the province. All those years that I have lived here allowed me to concentrate myself on creating things. Life in the capital would not make it possible to work so much and deal with creation".


Photos:

Valery Okarsky.

Evgeny Okarsky.

"Irises", 1999. Copper, brass.78x27x27 cm

"Recalling gone summer", 2003. Copper, marble. 34x19x19 cm

"Apocalypse", 1999. Copper, brass, duralumin, marble. 54x25x25 cm

"Gardens of Semiramis", 2004. Copper, oak. 42x23x26 cm

"Philosophy of charity", 2004. Copper. 19x32x32 cm


Reference:
Volgodonsk is located in the middle of Russia’s European South, on the shore of the Tsymlyanskoye Reservoir between two large industrial centers, Rostov-on-Don and Volgograd. The population of Volgodonsk is about 200,000 people.
The city was built thanks to constructing the Volga-Don Ship Canal, which connected the two great Russian rivers, the Volga and the Don, and which gave the city a chance to become a major transport junction.
The history of the city started in the 1950s. Since then Volgodonsk has experienced several construction booms: in the 1960s the largest chemical factory in southern Russia was built; between the 1970s and 1980s construction of Atommash, the world’s largest mill to make equipment for nuclear power plants, was completed.