BOKOV: Paintings and Collage
Konstantin Bokov is an Ukrainian Immigrant who's lived in Washington Heights for the past 23 years. As a teenager in the 1940s he herded sheep and played the accordion, until one day in his early 20's he saw a Van Gogh painting at an exhibit in Moscow and was inspired to put down the accordion and immediately began painting.
He arrived in New York in 1975 and has devoted himself to painting the city and its residents in his unique expressionist style. In a recent profile, the New York Times described him as, "eccentric...an elusive character...with his tall, lean frame, his olive trench coat cinched with a bright blue belt..." and marveled that, "he has no phone and did not respond to notes left for him." Bokov's paintings and his "found art" or "recycled" sculptures have been exhibited at galleries throughout the United States and around the world, including shows in Japan and Paris.
The influential State Museum of Vladivostok in Russia has requested his work for an upcoming exhibition. Recently, he's been experimenting with several new techniques - creating reliefs using recycled materials, and painting on photographs and prints. He is fascinating to watch at work. His trademark portraits of people at art openings capture the essence of character in a few lines, using anything he can get his hands on, like an old ballpoint pen. The strokes appear effortless.