25 May 2005

Composition with the Girl Feeding Fish
by Lubov
www.lubov.net

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Lubov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, in the former Soviet Union. In 1980, anxious for cultural and political freedom, Lubov moved to the United States of America and was forced to adapt to a very different culture. Although she has very few good memories of those times, there is no doubt that this early adversity forged a great strength of character that would benefit her the rest of her life.

Lubov's imagination and artistic skill naturally drew her to fantasy art. There are publishing credits as well, but more important is the work itself.

Her work has its own voice. It stands outside the deafening roar of commercial art, the core purpose of which will always be to sell you something you don't need. Free yourself from the idea that true art must have the upper third left blank for the book title, and you begin to understand.

On a technical level, her work is practically by itself. Lubov studied art at the Chicago Art Institute, one of the most prestigious schools in the country, and yet she maintains that real knowledge comes through her own studies. There is technical mastery in her work; mastery in the sense of the old masters. Lubov uses oils, the most difficult of all painting medium. The technique is six hundred years old and nothing man has devised, no modern material or electronic equivalent can match the sheer power of this very human mode of expression when handled by such an expert. You see, it's all about emotion.

Art is never merely self-expression. Art is the expression of the universal self--the human experience to which every person can relate. In a real sense, if art must be explained then it has already failed. Lubov is capable of making us understand without explaining. There is something in her work, which conveys both perfect innocence and vast wisdom at the same time. These rather contradictory qualities are found in the artist herself.

To view her work in the proper manner it might be simplest to think of her as a classical painter working, to our great fortune, in the fantasy realm. Though still a young painter, she has the certain potential to become a master in the classic sense.