
Automobiles in Space and Fashion of a Particular Time
Living in Prague, Yuriy Shevchuk has adopted the practice of recording his own experiences through his artwork. The three passions that inspire his paintings are, architecture/cityscapes, jazz, and historical cars.
Born in Kiev, Ukraine he attended the Kiev Art School and later the prestigious Kiev Architectural Academy. He has been an associate member of the Pastels Society of America since 2007.
He regularly participates in numerous exhibitions throughout the year. Some of his work in private collections in countries like Russia, Ukraine, Germany, USA, France, Belgium, Canada, England, Australia, Austria, Italy, Argentina, Brazil, Israel, Spain, etc…
A.A. What cars impressed you growing up in Ukraine?
Y.S. When I was living in Ukraine, it was a part of USSR. In USSR Motorsport was partly banned, especially F1, it was considered as bourgeoisie sport.
Global brands like Ferrari, Maserati, BMW, Porsche etc. we were able to see only on pages of import or foreign magazines. Soviet press was not mentioning them and if so, only as a little notes without photo.
That’s why for me the possibility to see and display old cars of 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and up, is an opportunity to make up youth interest for a worldwide Motorsport of that era.
A.A. About the cars you paint, on your website it says, you don’t paint the cars as such, you try to depict your perception of retro style. What does that mean to you?
Y.S. In my artworks I’m trying to portray not only the automobiles but also a space and fashion of that particular time. Automobiles with equipage in sports uniforms of the time.
A.A. How would you best describe your style?
Y.S. I work in the major artistic styles like: watercolor, oil and acrylics including new modern mix styles using computer.
A.A. Looking at your artwork, it appears you have experience in a variety of mediums. How many mediums do you work in and do you have a favorite?
Y.S. My favorite style is watercolors. It allows me to create unique artworks as it does not tolerate corrections as water does not flow two times in the same spot.
A.A. In our research we found numerous website galleries with your work for sale, websites like Saatchi Art, AbsoluteArts.com, FineArtAmerica, Pixels.com and ArtNow.ru to name a few. Has this been an effect strategy in selling your work and if so, which website sells more of your work?
Y.S. The strategy with website galleries was to showcase my work online and with a time passing and adding to the collections here and there i started to sell a little bit. It was effective. The popular ones are Redbubble, Imagekinde, Fineartamerica and shevchukart.
A.A. What are you working on at the moment?
Y.S. My latest work was pre-war buses on the background of old Prague.
A.A. You also have a passion for jazz and that is reflected in some of your work. Who are your top three favorite jazz musicians?
Y.S. My favorite artists are Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page.
We would like to thank Yuriy for taking time to do the interview. You can see more of his work at his website, http://www.shevchukart.com