New era sculpting

Yountville hosts a Russian cultural exchange
Thursday, February 1, 2001

By Gary BRADY-HERDON
Register Staff Writer

YOUNTVILLE

On first meeting Alexey Vladimirov, the impression is not one of a giant in the world of Russian art. The Kiev native's medium, powerful build conjures up more of an image of a diminutive middle linebacker for a professional football team than a respected and celebrated artist.

Yet, as he stands in front of a newly created 10-foot tall statue, "The Goddess of the Moon," you get the feeling there is much more to this man than meets the eye.

On Saturday, Feb. 10, from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Villagio Inn & Spa in Yountville, Napa Valley residents will have the unique pleasure of spending the afternoon with this Kiev native -- and with 28 of his original bronze, marble and granite sculptures shipped to the United States specifically for this event.

A graduate of Kiev's State Institute of Arts, Vladimirov, 43, has spent the past 15 years developing a style that has projected his career onto the international art scene. Since 1985, he has been the subject of one-man shows in his home in Moscow and Kiev, at the Russian Arts Museum and the prestigious Museum of National History. Abroad, he has exhibited in Geteborg, Sweden, Kyoto, Osaka, Japan and Berlin.

Although Vladimirov's works are done in several different materials -- wood, bronze, stone and metal -- when asked what is his favorite he doesn't hesitate when he responds.

"Stone!" he remarks with emphasis and a hearty laugh.

In Russia, he gets stone from Greece and Italy, which he says is cheaper than stone from the United States.

Vladimirov has been sculpting in one form or another since he was a child living on his family's small vineyard in the Kuban region of the Ukraine. In those years, he recalls, he was always carving 3-D forms and figures out of wood.

Yountville hosts a Russian cultural exchange

Thursday, February 1, 2001