Artist Mikhail Turovsky about the success 20 has been waiting for in New York

Mikhail Turovsky immigrated to the USA 35 years ago. Photo by Pavel Terekhov

Mikhail Turovsky lives with his wife in the Russian-speaking area of ​​Brooklyn. His apartment looks more like a museum or library. Here are the owner’s books and the most precious thing for any artist - his paintings.

“There are hands, there are eyes, the heart is beating. I still work every day. I have been engaged in my favorite profession since I was eight years old. I have come a long way from sperm to academician. And he fought all the time,” says Turovsky.

He arrived in New York from Kiev in the distant 1979 year. Conquer America failed immediately. Today, his works are represented in the National Art Museum of Ukraine, the State Tretyakov Gallery and in several US museums (for example, in the museum at Cornwall University). Last year, Mikhail Turovsky won the competition “Man of the Year Russian-speaking America” in the nomination “Artist of the Year”.

He writes in different genres, but is best known for creating the “Holocaust” and “The End of the Great Utopia” cycles. According to Turovsky, the subject matter is partly dictated by the fact that he was born in 1933, when Hitler came to power, and grew up under the totalitarian regime of the Soviet Union. He talks about this in his paintings. “The Holocaust occurs wherever some people arrogate to themselves the right to decide who can live and who must die,” adds Turovsky.

The theme of life and death in Mikhail Turovsky occurs very often. Among the latest works is the painting “Two,” where a carrier of souls is sailing with someone on a boat along the River Styx in the underworld of Hades. “I've lived a great life. And, probably, this is also a physical feeling of war,” explains the painter.

“The End of the Great Utopia” is a protest against totalitarianism. “I was happy when at the Venice Biennale I received a whole pavilion for the exhibition of paintings from this cycle,” Turovsky recalls his triumph.

For several years, the artist paints figurative paintings, which he calls “the naked truth, or the apocalypse-daily”.

Ten years without earning

Mikhail and Sofia Turovsky left Kyiv as enemies of the people, without any hope of returning. “They cut the umbilical cord that connected us to our homeland,” the artist’s wife recalls those events with pain.

The family started life in New York from scratch. “We were met by representatives of an organization that helped new immigrants. They helped me find housing, provided me with short English courses, and even taught me how to look for a job. We learned everything we needed to know in American life. Sometimes we felt like just children,” says Sophia about the move.

Mikhail had to not only rebuild his life, but also fight temptations. In those years, pop art reigned in American art, Andy Warhol was the king, but this whole direction was alien to Turovsky. Therefore, he refused the opportunity to earn money in the same advertising business, just as he did not pursue easy money and drive a taxi. “I decided for myself that I should work in my field, and the newfound freedom should be used to realize my talents,” recalls the artist.

Michael and Sophia Turovsky now live in Brooklyn. Photo by Pavel Terekhov

In the first ten years of his life in New York, he did not earn a penny. But the wife still got a job in an engineering company for the position of draftswoman.

“We left without a single painting; it was forbidden to export them - as a national treasure. Everything had to be left behind. It seemed like a disaster,” regrets Mikhail’s wife, Sophia.

Turovsky continued to draw - and somehow, by a happy accident, he met the French art critic Serge Lanchner. He became Turovsky's first art dealer and helped him enter the Western market.

The exhibition of the now New York artist in Kyiv opened 20 years after he left there. The main one was the “Holocaust” cycle. “These people seem to live in me: their pain, their failed lives, their trampled hopes. With their death, the connection between times was broken,” says the artist, barely holding back tears.

Painting by Mikhail Turovsky from the “Holocaust” series.

Mikhail Turovsky loves Kyiv very much and believes that it is not even a city, but “a space of a certain spirituality.” In the capital of Ukraine, he lived near the home of the artist Mikhail Vrubel and the writer Mikhail Bulgakov - and often imagined the life of these two geniuses. “The energy that emanated from these people could not help but influence me. For example, I could see how Vrubel - he lived on the first floor - opened the window and looked out,” says Turovsky.

Family and spiritual training

This year Mikhail Turovsky turned 82 years old. He looks great and works hard. “I don’t do exercises. I'm training spiritually. The main task for me is to create space for work. The evening task is to motivate yourself for tomorrow,” the painter shares his secret of longevity.

Turovsky is not very good at socializing with Americans; the language barrier hinders him. “I did not become an English-speaking person with my experience living in the USA. My friends and acquaintances worked in American companies and thus learned the language. I no longer have a chance to improve. But I forgive myself for this,” says the artist. However, the lack of integration into American society does not bother Turovsky much - he is supported by a large and friendly family.

“We always understood each other: 55 years together. I believe that Misha has an extraordinary talent. He is a brilliant artist, and it gives me pleasure to participate, albeit from the outside, in his work,” says his wife Sophia.

Their daughter Evgenia is a poet. She translates works of contemporary Russian poets into English. And son Roman is a stage designer, painter and musician. Even the grandchildren, twin boys, have followed in the footsteps of their father and grandfather and are already studying in art schools. We can say that the Turovskys completely devoted themselves to art.

“We like the area where we live. We have everything nearby - shops, doctors, everything we need. We meet Russian people very often <…>. We lived in Manhattan for several years. And now, when we arrive there, we are surprised: how did we live here? I mean, there are a lot of people, cars, everything is noisy. But here it’s calm and good,” says Sophia.

Recently, Mikhail Turovsky’s close friend, poet Alexander Behrens, collected the artist’s works over the past two years into the photo story “White, Black and Red.” “This film contains my entire mood, my attitude towards today’s events in Ukraine. This is the cry of a man wounded by his time,” says Turovsky.