How Ukrainian artist conquered the elite of the USA

Unfading flowers of Ukrainian immigrants today are in private collections of many celebrities. Photos from the personal archive

Porcelain painter Vladimir Kanevsky creates plants that bloom all year round at prestigious exhibitions and in the homes of celebrities. Porcelain flowers wizard sold in the flagship store Dior in Paris, his bouquets adorn the windows of several New York stores on 5-th Avenue. And recently, the first lady of the United States, Melanya Trump, presented the wife of the head of the Japanese government, Akie Abe, with a “Rose in Blossom” bouquet of forts created by a Ukrainian who lives and works in the United States.

Vladimir Kanevsky told ForumDaily about his secret of success, the difficulties of emigration and his love for America, to which he came, having $ 300 in his pocket.

Rose for the first lady

About the rose that attracted Melanier Trump, Vladimir Kanevsky says: “I made it for a joint project with a German porcelain factory Meissen. I created the design of vases and color samples for the artists of the factory. That pattern was the rose. She stood for a long time, and I did not sell it, although there were customers. When we were approached from the White House, nothing suitable was at hand, so I took a rose and put it in order. ”

Kanevsky did not sell this rose for a long time, although there were customers. Photo via RUNYweb.com

The unfading flowers of the Ukrainian immigrant are today in the private collections of many celebrities: in the collection of the descendants of Jacqueline Kennedy, Martha Stewart, Tommy Hilfiger, Oscar de la Renta, Valentino, Princess Gloria von Thurn. The master, who became famous for his unusual works of porcelain, is known, one might say, by all bohemia. However, the price of his works is such that not every collector and connoisseur of beauty can afford it - they cost from several tens of thousands of dollars to $100 thousand.

The most expensive work of Vladimir Kanevsky costs about $ 250 thousand - it is a large composition of different flowers in an old vase: dahlias, lilacs, tulips, roses, mallow.

Photo instagram.com/vladimir.kanevsky/

Film-like life

Vladimir himself says about his life: "More like a film, the plot of which is based on happy coincidences."

Vladimir Kanevsky was born in the Ukrainian city of Kharkov. There he graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of the Kharkov Construction Institute and had big plans in the architectural construction of his country. However, in 70-s he had to go to Leningrad for better work, which he found in the Architectural Museum, and then Vladimir painted posters at the Art Works.

“I became interested in ceramic sculpting when decorating the windows of one of the stores,” recalls Vladimir. “But I didn’t see my future in this.” Therefore, immediately after perestroika, in 1989, I decided to emigrate to America. I was almost 40 years old then.

You understand that at this age it is quite difficult to start a new life, so I know very well what depression and nostalgia are. At first I studied basic English for several years, but now I am a citizen of the USA and I am very proud of it! ”

The adaptation process was not easy, but even then Vladimir knew what he would do overseas, because the first thing he did after earning some money was to buy a kiln for ceramics. This was the starting point in order to establish its own porcelain workshop in a few years.

It all started with vegetables

The Kanevsky workshop began not with snowdrops, which the masters later glorified, but with vegetables. The first work was the tureen in the style of the 18-th century. Then, based on that tureen, a whole set of vegetables was created, custom-made for the world famous interior designer Howard Slatkin.

Photo instagram.com/vladimir.kanevsky/

“When I arrived in the USA, I was actively looking for work and saw an advertisement in one newspaper. “I asked my friend to call and arrange a meeting,” says Vladimir. “After that, I had a month to buy simple equipment and learn how to make porcelain. Yes, I had practice working with very primitive ceramics, but this is a very big difference... Gradually, through trial and error, I began to learn how to work with this material. I’ll say more, I’m still learning!”

Vladimir created the first flowers a year later. The process was very laborious, because I had to develop different techniques for each new flower. At first they were made of porcelain, but the stalks of the plant often did not withstand roasting, and it was necessary to invent something else. So, he began to make the stalks of metal, the leaves - of tinted copper, and the flowers or buds of porcelain.

He soldered over a gas stove because there was no money for a soldering iron. Flowers were initially sold poorly, but their creation was more and more fascinated by the master.

“Before the flower “grows” in the workshop, I study it in reality,” says Kanevsky. – Now I often plant flowers in the garden, near the house. I study this or that plant, then photograph it and scan it on a computer. Over the years, I have accumulated a huge database of colors and old drawings. I also “paint” in real porcelain and real metal. When you sculpt, all the sketches mean nothing until you touch clay, stone or metal and your hands begin to feel the material. With the help of my assistants, I usually make many flowers of a certain type and only after I have an idea for a new material, I make a metal part and then select the flowers that I need. I also have dozens, if not hundreds of sketchbooks with technical drawings and sketches for containers and utensils.”

Photo instagram.com/vladimir.kanevsky/

I'm a nerd

Vladimir admits that his passion for flowers is not an accident. “As a schoolboy, I always brought home A’s in biology,” recalls the master. – It was interesting for me to consider the structure of this or that living plant, because each of them has its own structural features! I love plants. I like to analyze their structure, but the most exciting thing is that I am trying to do something similar to creating architecture or sculpture. These are exactly 2 of my previous classes that combine technology, structure, scale, history, science and art.”

That is why, planting flowers near the house, Kanevsky tries to study the process of their growth and only then, calculating all the details of the construction from the point of view of the architectural structure, creating special tools for every detail of the product, proceeds to the modeling process.

Photo instagram.com/vladimir.kanevsky/

Unique as nature itself

Interestingly, all the flowers of the sculptor are unique and finding 2 identical flowers is simply unrealistic. Sometimes in order to create one or another masterpiece, Kanevsky will need years.

For example, in order to “revive” a branch of lilac, it took him 3 of the year to come up with a technology in accordance with the structure of the plant.

“Once I was sitting at a birthday party at a table with lilacs in a vase,” recalls Vladimir. “I looked at it, trying to understand how it worked. The most important thing for me is to recreate the “character” of the flower and the color. Then you look and a smell appears...”

To come up with a lilac creation technology, it took 3 of the year. Photos from the personal archive

Kanevsky admits that he often invents plants, for example, attaching pea pods to a bindweed. By the way, his first flower was also unreal - a blue carnation.

Kanevsky says little about his workshop: “Computers and other modern equipment allow me to create a relatively small studio, where I can even make tableware - from raw materials to the finished product. We recently rebuilt our studio. It's right in our house, which is very convenient for my wife Edita and me. We both work 10-12 hours a day. But to work well, I always need a good sleep, an audiobook and good weather, which puts me in a great mood, or, on the contrary, bad weather in which I simply don’t want to go outside.”

Wonderful tricks

Kanevsky’s flowers are called “wonderful deceptions” - they are too similar to the real thing. This “nickname” was given by one of the first admirers of the Ukrainian master, American interior designer and author of world-famous books on the art of design, Charlotte Moss. Her porcelain collection includes more than a dozen colors from Kanevsky.

“I remember that time well. When there were no orders,” says Vladimir. “I walked around the center of New York, showing photographs of my products and talking about them. At that time, it was Charlotte Moss who helped me a lot, who became one of the first buyers of my work. Then I accidentally walked into her store, and she ordered 5 of my works at once. Then I had no idea where I was or who I was talking to.”

Today, Vladimir Kanevsky collaborates with Oscar de la Renta, who invited him to make a joint line of jewelry, and Tommy Hilfiger, who, at one of the presentations of his perfumery series Lily of the valley presented the delicate porcelain flowers of lilies of the valley, made by Kanevsky, on which he worked for several months.

By the way, Oscar de la Renta, at his first meeting with the master, immediately bought 8 mallows from him. “To be honest, I didn’t even know that these flowers grow in Ukraine,” admits Vladimir. – In the USA they are called “hollyhocks”, and they are very fashionable in American culture. They can often be seen in botanical engravings, on French porcelain and in Dutch painting."

Photo instagram.com/vladimir.kanevsky/

“They are all like children to me!”

VIP clients who collect Kanevsky's works, note that the master is very sensitive to his customers: if fragile china is damaged when sending a piece, he will repair it. Up to the point that flies to the customer in any country and the flower does not stick together, but makes a new one, “planting” it in the place of the former. But Vladimir, smiling, said that it was not the importance of the client, but the flower: “They are all like children to me! Sometimes, when I finish my work, I fall in love with it and don’t want to sell it, planning to save it. Often this is why I have a conflict with my wife, who is less sentimental. But then I feel that the affection has passed, and I am ready to sell it ... ”.

Photo instagram.com/vladimir.kanevsky/

See also:

Melanya Trump presented the wife of the Japanese Prime Minister with the product of a Ukrainian artist

The project of the artist of Ukrainian origin won the prestigious American competition

Dolls with the most realistic faces from a sculptor from Russia. A PHOTO

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