Savinykh Yaroslav

Member of the Union of Artists of Russia (2002).

He was born on 12 January 1952 in Rakhiv, Transcarpathia. He has been fond of art since his childhood. He started painting himself, but the teachers paid attention to a gifted pupil and advised him to take lessons in the art studio directed by Vasyl Zeikan. As the artist recalled later, these were remarkable years. Every summer young artists went from mountain to mountain, from village to village, thus they had a lot of themes and motifs for painting.

Over the years of study, Yaroslav dreamed of becoming an artist. After graduating from school, he was working at the local art studio with Vasyl Kostoi who studied at Adalbert Erdeli. In such a way, he was gradually accumulating knowledge and experience.

In 1975, Yaroslav Savinykh went to study in Russia – he entered Art and Graphic Faculty of the Leningrad State University named after O. Hertsen. Upon graduation, he stayed in St. Petersburg. He has been living and working in Russia, but sometimes he comes to his native land.

During the years of hard work, Yaroslav Savinykh developed his own style and proved himself as an artist. “He can be recognized among hundreds of works because he has his “face” and this is the most important for the artist. Do not copy, but to be yourself. All his works, he shows his world, confessions and soul,” a carver, the honoured master of folk art Yurii Pavlovych described the artist at one of the exhibitions.

Art education in St. Petersburg gave a lot of knowledge, but the influence of the Transcarpathian school remained forever. That is why the palette of the artist is bright and rich, he boldly plays with colours, tones and halftones, all his works are very bright, emotional, positive. With clear, sincere strokes, the artist depicts the nature of the mountains, deep rivers, picturesque valleys, rural landscapes – each painting is filled with love for everything that has surrounded the artist since his childhood (“Kvasy Village”, 2010, “Rakhiv. Bridge above the River Tisza”, 2010, “Yasinia Polonyna”, 2010, “Berkut Land”, 2010, “On the shore of the river Tisza”, 2012). Yaroslav himself admits that he has loved and admired the Transcarpathian school since his childhood, a bright combination of colours has always been incredibly fascinating: “The very nature of Rakhiv is very rich: mountains, power, beauty, wisdom… One is lucky just to see them. Even if you do not paint anything...”

Since 1983, the artist has been a permanent participant of autumn, spring, zone exhibitions of the Leningrad Union of Artists. The works of the artist are in numerous private collections in Russia and abroad. 

The text was prepared based on the materials of the publication “Artists of Transcarpathian Hutsul region” by Yurii Bendak and Oleksandr Maslianko.