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Vladimir Kush was born in 1965, in a modest house on the northern edge of Moscow. Kush was a prodigy, showing artistic ability since he was three or four years old. At the age of seven, along with his general education, Vladimir attended art school until late at night. He was introduced to the works of great artists of the Renaissance, the Impressionists, and Modern artists. Luckily for him, he had teachers who encouraged freedom of creativity. One of Vladimir's passions that later became instrumental in his symbolic representation of the world was his love of flowers. Kush grew up during the 1970s and 1980s, and he could only fantasize about journeys to exotic lands while gazing at the tropical plants that he grew on his windowsill. Vladimir Kush entered the Moscow Higher Art and Craft School at age 17, but a year later he was drafted. After six months of military training the unit commander thought it more appropriate to employ him exclusively for peaceful purposes; namely, painting propagandistic posters. After military service and graduating from the Institute of Fine Arts, Vladimir painted portraits on Arbat Street to support his family during the hard times in Russia. In 1987, Kush began to take part in exhibitions organized by the Union of Artists. At an exhibition in Coburg, Germany in 1990, nearly all his paintings sold and after closing the show, he parted ways with the two other Russian artists that had accompanied him. He flew to Los Angeles where 20 of his works were exhibited and began his American Odyssey. In Los Angeles, Kush worked in a small, rented home garage, but was unable to find a place to display his paintings. He earned money by drawing portraits on the Santa Monica pier and eventually was able to purchase a ticket to his "promised land", Hawaii. In Hawaii, Vladimir discovered the world he had dreamed of since childhood, when he painted his first oil painting of a tsunami wave falling on Hawaiian shores. In Hawaii, Kush's color palette was enhanced to encompass the vivid hues of the islands and it was here that his unique style, his method and his language "Metaphorical Realism" was created. Vladimir Kush's remarkable art is represented in galleries throughout the world. |