 Constance had been friends with Clementine for twenty years now. Although they were quite close and shared many hopes, dreams, wishes, memories, and even secrets, Constance never told Clementine that she was a Suvian. She always hid her true appearance from Clementine. Few suvians ever risked telling a human their true nature, and even fewer ever let the facade slip away and show their true appearance. They wandered through the Flower Mart that had been a tradition of theirs that started on the day they met at the same fair all those years ago. Rain or shine they had gone and enjoyed the day wandering through the various stalls, attending contests (the Grand Hat Contest was Clementine’s favorite and she had almost won twice), enjoying the live music and the various foods to offer. They loved ever moment of it and attended both Friday and Saturday.
As the suvian population grew in Baltimore, so did the variety of plants and creatures they had brought with them when some of their kind came to live on the surface so long ago. This was the first year that Constance had seen some at the Flower Mart. “That is quite a peculiar plant.” Clementine noted as she studied it. Was the breeze moving the plant or had she seen it move on its own? “It looks like is is related to the Venus Flytrap.” “I’ve never seen anything like it.” “I think have seen it at the farmers market a few times.” Constance said in an attempt to normalize the peculiar potted plant. “Yeah.” Clementine thought. “Maybe. That plant stand from the Eastern Shore. I may’ve seen it there.” They continued to walk around and enjoy the day, but Constance continued to think about the plant that she knew well. It was related to the Venus Flytrap, but it could grow to be quite big in the right environment. Some could even get big enough to eat a bird. Constance also knew that if cooked right, it was quite tasty. As the evening grew to and end and the good friends said goodbye Constance put on a happy face and pretended that she hadn’t been distracted since she saw the flytrap plant. They hugged each other and Clementine got into her car happy and tired. Ready to go home and put her feet up. Constance made her way back to the vendor and bought the flytrap plant. The vendor was a suvian too and they gave each other a knowing wink. It made Constance sad. Hidden in plain sight. It was convenient, but it also felt somehow deceitful to her good friend. All these years and she knew that Clementine didn’t truly know her. Constance cut a stalk off the plant and prepared a small snack for herself. As she diced and simmered and folded the treat into corn tortilla, she wondered if her friendship would be over if one day she had the courage to truly be herself in front of her dearest friend.  Sergey Sovkov was born in Russia, 1972, in a little town called Kyshtym. It is located near Chelyabinsk in Ural. When Sergey was young he lived some time in the north of Siberia, but eventually moved to Togliatti (near the big River Wolga in the region of Samara) to study art pedagogics (related to the methods of teaching). After his marriage to his husband, Erwin Sovkov, who is Austrian, he moved to Vienna where they currently live. Sergey’s first professional exhibition was in 1995 (at the age of 23), but he has been creating art since childhood. As a boy Sovkov enlisted himself into an art school while also attending his required schooling, but unfortunately had no time to finish the art school. After graduation, he attended the University in Togliatti to study art pedagogics. In Russia it is a comprehensive and all inclusive art education. After graduation Sergey worked, trained, and developed his skills of art and stayed as a teacher in the university for 17 years where he advanced from an assistant to finally a lecturer. Sergey creates using many mediums and styles (clay/sculpture, pastel, oil, ink, and pencil) and although his favorite to work with is oil on canvas, currently his inspiration has drawn him to his pastel and clay work. Two opposites and with drastically different outcomes, but the connection between the two would be a dream-like quality of man and nature. Where his art in oil, ink, and pencil seem to highlight and capture the beauty of life, whether it be a playful street scene, a simple collection of food and/or flowers, or a lazy afternoon, Sovkov manages to capture his subjects in a way that evokes a serenity and beauty that comes from a place of love. A moment of pure joy captured.
The first painting in his current style in oil was painted in 1999 was a still life with peonies made with palette-knife and afterwards surrounded every single color with a black line. While visiting his best friend in Italy Sergey showed this painting to an artist there who loved it and suggested that he use the same style on contemporary themes. She also gave my style the caption "Di Vetro“ which translates to “Made of Glass” because of how it resembles stained glass, like the painting I featured for this highlight. Sovkov has had exhibitions in Russia, Germany, Holland, Austria, United Kingdom. Years ago, Sovkov’s now-husband was given a painting of his which he loved so much he wanted to meet the artist that created it. They met in Vienna to get to know each other. Erwin is a dancer and invited him to a photo shoot. In that shoot Sergey was so amazed how he poses and moved that he was inspired to sketch and paint everything he could. This began their life together and partnership. Erwin is a practicing photographer, which provides images for Sergey to use in his paintings along with live models. They will soon open a gallery in Vienna and launch their .com website for a wider audience in the near future. I urge you to use the links below to discover his stunning work and see for yourself how he shapes his vision in the various mediums he utilizes. German website - www.blauetauben.at English website (coming soon) - www.blautauben.com One of the online galleries that feature his work - https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/sergey-sovkov.html Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/sergey.sovkov Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sergey_sovkov/ |
Blog StatementAs of October 2016, I intended to use this blog as an accompaniment to my Facebook page and Instagram page. On this blog I post information and updates about my work as well as once a month I highlighted an artist whose work I like (I stopped doing this when I opened my gallery www.GalleryBlueDoor.com). As of March 2017, I began posting a monthly Story Entry with an accompanying illustration of mine. In mid-2019 I took a break from this, but it will resume. Archives
November 2019
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