Among the Ukrainian artists who emigrated abroad after the restructuring and breakup of the
Soviet Union, Stanislav Fomenok is one of the most famous representatives of the Ukrainian fine art since the early 70s.
S. Fomenok spent his childhood in a working class family in the town of Nikopol, Ukraine. His mother was a teacher of a secondary school and his father – a worker. During school years, Fomenok first attended the art studio in the Pioneers' Palace in Nikopol, where his first teacher of drawing was the artist T. Tsvigun and then Dnepropetrovsk Art College, where among his teachers were such professional artists as K. Berkut and the People's Artist of Ukraine G. Cherniavsky. From 1966 to 1972, he studied and graduated from the National Academy of Art in Kiev, painting department. Years of study with the People's Artists of Ukraine V. Kostetskii, V. Shatalina, M. Khmelko, acquaintance with works of art at museums in Kiev and travel abroad proved to be the creative environment that shaped the artist's talent and his world view. Fomenok's creative work is bright, cheerful and optimistic. Picturesque language of his paintings is reminiscent of the French Impressionism and is without doubt a key to his future creative development.
In the Soviet Union of the 70-90s, the artist painted a few pictures on historic-patriotic theme. The first such picture was the thesis at the Academy of Arts "Strong in spirit. Ukrainian writers I. Franko, M. Kotsyubinsky, L. Ukrainka" which was shown at the Soviet Union Exhibition of theses. Afterwards, some pictures dedicated to a civil war were painted: "We stirred a horse to battle'' and the Great Patriotic War "In the fight", "In the woods near the front" that became part of the Soviet Leniniana along with the painting "Youth of Ulyanov''. The artist's interest in history is a kind of dialogue between the past and present, which is clearly shown in the following pictures: ''Cadets'', ''In the memory of the parents", ''Under the peaceful birches'', ''Sunny land'', ''Victory of work'', ''Youth'', "The shift of young metallurgists", "Spring". The most important thing, however, is that the artist remains true to himself on thematic canvases, his view on the past and present, his talent to combine man and nature in the situation which becomes the image of the picture and renders the artist's mood.
In 1985 S. Fomenok was awarded the title of “Honoured Artist of Ukraine” for outstanding creative work.
Following the dictates of fate, S. Fomenok came to Munich, Germany, where he has been living and working since 1996.
In his works, the artist observes realistic traditions of fine art in the world culture. He is diligent and serious
in his approach to work. Each painting is a complex path from a sketch to a finished picture, revealing beauty,
warmth and always a clear and well balanced composition.
Whatever the genre of his paintings, the artist praises freshness and purity of the romantic nature, joy of the sunny earth, garden and people who live in harmony with nature. His paintings are like music, conveying a tremble of leaves, beauty of a sunny day, infinity of the meadow, variety of colours of nature. Today, this trend can be called a romantic post-impressionism. Emotional perception of nature and the artist's unusual talent for colours are a secret of freshness and joy that emanate from his pictures.
The artist seeks colour harmony and paints in a realistic manner of fine art. He conveys beauty of colour,
importance of objects or a feeling of lightness. He finds tones that render not only great richness of colours
of the world, but also the expressive mode of transmission of the artist's mood.
Stanislav Fomenok is a lyrical artist with an optimistic attitude, unflagging interest in life and surroundings. His genre painting, which originates in young age, is one of the most important and significant forms of art for him. Each picture conveys a feeling of excitement, mental impulse, love of a subject and skilful, professional performance. Particularly successful are pictures, where the artist combines man and nature: children in the garden, meadow and the sea, a beautiful figure of women in the fresh air, outdoor recreation and city cafés, soft ballet movements. "In the garden",
"Rest by the sea", "Spring", "Children playing on the shore", "Meadow in full bloom" ,"Summer by the sea",
"On the terrace", "In the ballet break". All images are an amazingly accurate reflection of life which is based on
a realistic subject of sketches and drawings.
Fomenok's paintings are contemporary, reproducing our present. A tireless search and longing for new images are noticed in his portrait genre. As a portraitist, S. Fomenok is able to touch the depths of a human heart. He portraits people who he knows well or with whom he has been acquainted for long. His portraits are a synthesis of human observations, they are deprived of intention and artificiality, always truthful and specific. Dialogue between the artist and the model always corresponds to the period in which they live. He maintains human dignity, grasping the complexity of a human spiritual world. All this is expressed in psychological characteristics, composition and its specific classical direction. "Portrait of a mother", "Bride", "Ballet-dancer", "Portrait of a son", "Spanish girl", "Portrait of a woman", "Girl and poppies". His portraits are rich in lyricism and intimacy, which is particularly evident in the portraits of women and the nude. Importance and versatility of the world of a contemporary are highlighted in such portraits as: "A lady in a pink dress", "A reclining nude",
"Lit by the sun", "In the garden" ,''Rest in a hammock", "Morning toilet", "A nude by the sea", "On the porch",
"Charm".
The artist paints landscape in a deeply emotional way, masterfully creating characteristic features of a depicted countryside, integrity and optimistic perception of the natural world. Communication with nature enriches his painting palette and is a source of inspiration for him. In the landscape, he creates an artistic image of nature which reveals versatility of his own inner world. The artist paints sunny and cheerful beauty of his native landscape, charm of its forests, fields, rivers, landscape of sunny Venice and the sea with its constant change, shades of colour and gentle waves. Here we see the graceful play of light on the sea surface, the transparent brilliance of the dawn, the dark sky before the storm and damp of a coastal pebble. Emotionally aesthetic attitude to nature and its image on canvas are reproduced in accordance with his view on beauty of the world. "White willow blooms", "Birch grove", "Golden autumn", "Thaw," "Last snow", "Spring in the forest", "Spring flood", "Sunny Venice", "Summer evening", "Old Crimea", ''A road in winter'', "The surf", "A rainy day", ''The mountain landscape ".
Works depicting winter and summer, spring and autumn in all its variety are united by intention to convey harmony between man and nature. The artist often highlights this unity by painting figures in nature. Of all the seasons, the artist loves spring most: the
last snow in March, the awakening of nature from the first warm rays of the sun, the first green grass,
leaves and fresh spring air.
It is spring that inspires the artist to paint still life which is inherent with joy of life, subtle colours, saturation of a colour palette, abundance of light and air. The artist enjoys painting in open air, following traditions of the Impressionists. Objects and their surrounding are represented in the landscape, as if united, which is his favourite painting technique. S. Fomenok likes painting flowers, which proves his boundless love for nature: "Blooming lilac", "White peonies", "Roses in the garden", "Wild flowers", "Cornflower and chamomile", "Iris'', ''Gladioli", ''Buckhorn blooms'', ''Lilac and tulips'',
''Poppies". Each still life is something new for him. Showing flowers, the artist does not repeat the already found,
but searches for new ways of expression, different colours, shades of colour and its characteristic features.
Painted with love and deep knowledge of nature, still life is a true artistic beauty of his art.
Stanislav Fomenok is known as a great master of art in Ukraine and abroad. A romantic touch, a
deep emotion of the characters, a special saturation and decorative patterning of colour are characteristic of
his paintings. Ambitious and creative search, high professional culture, optimism, traditions of a classical
realistic art of impressionism distinguish him among others.
His paintings are in Ukrainian museums and private collections, both in Ukraine and other countries: Germany, England, France, Italy, Spain, Canada, Japan, and the United States, to name but a few. He continues to create vivid, poetic, joyful works of art which he dedicates to his contemporaries. Each year, S. Fomenok returns to home cities to relive memories of youth in his mind, drink spring water, breathe fresh Ukrainian air. He loves nature and people in all their diversity like a loyal, grateful son loves his mother – in a gentle and devout manner – and remains faithful to beauty, sunshine, emotion and elation which have been accompanying him since his youth.
Larisa Bondar. Art critic |
