03.05.23 02:50 PM

Oleg Trofimov was born in 1962 in a city called Krasnoarmeisk, Russia. He was the first in the family to go into the art field. Oleg started painting at the age of 5. In the kindergarten, during an art project, instead of drawing flowers and houses like all the other kids, Oleg drew an US plane bombing Vietnam. At that time the war in Vietnam was in at its peak, and the drawing made a huge impression on everyone. The drawing was sent to a children’s competition and received a special price for “humanitarian value”.Since that time many of Oleg’s drawings went to different children’s competitions and won a number of awards, but already evident was the artistic quality and merit of his work.In 1977 he enrolled into a children’s art school skipping the 1st grade. After finishing the art school, Oleg enrolled into Industrial Arts College in the city of Abramovsk. His graduation work won 1st place on “juried show of graduation works of the Moscow region art schools” and was published in a magazine “Decorative Art”. From 1986 to 1992 Oleg studied in the Moscow State Industrial Art College.His style is "Russian realism", which is a combination of traditional realism and impressionism. Russian artists that had the biggest impact on him were Korovin, Turjanskiy, Korjev, Stojarov and Ukin. Western artists he called his real teachers, include on the list Van Gough and Monet.

Says Oleg, “The style and manner of my work helps me understand the colour pallet and relations between colours without the viewer being distracted by detail. This helps to appreciate the whole painting, and helps to create a true impression of the subject or the world the artist is creating. Regarding the subject matter, I don’t think that there are a lot of people that aren’t touched by the ocean, by the romance of travelling and capturing beautiful moments of life. I’m no exception. This is why on many of my canvases you will see ships, sails, foreign lands and cozy corners of the world I travelled and loved.”In the 90’s, Oleg’s work was purchased by practically all of the major Russian banks. Important government officials including Presidents Vladimir Putin, Dmitri Medvedev, Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin have his work in their private collections. Many stars of Russian entertainment including actors, producers and singers are among collectors of his art. Also, Svetlana Medvedeva, wife of the current Prime Minister and owner of two prestigious art galleries in Moscow and Bruges has purchased 16 of Oleg’s paintings over the past few years.It is also understood that the World famous Tretyakov Art Gallery & Museum in Moscow is currently in negotiation to buy Trofimov’s work.