Gates of Heaven Painting

Yury Khilko is a contemporary Belarusian artist, associate professor, and head of the Department of Graphic Arts at the Belarusian State Academy of Arts. He works in book graphics and easel painting, and he depicts images from nature in both the realist and expressionist-abstract styles. The creative path of Yury Khilko is a continuous search. He experiments and seeks to unify the traditions of painting and graphic arts. The artist chooses his palette in accordance with these goals. His fluid color transitions create a feeling of light haze, subordinating all of the depicted objects to a certain rhythm. He applies the lines and composition structure of drawing to painting, where they serve to create a certain naturalness and harmony. These qualities can be seen in his pure landscapes, which are permeated by a subtle philosophical and lyrical mood. Yury Khilko took up abstract painting in an effort to capture and convey his feelings and thoughts. These paintings feature expressive multilayer structures, though they are used concisely and are aligned to the composition. Thanks to the artist's special perception of light, he is able to combine the individual details of his works into expressive cloud-like figures, which resemble raw airborne elements. Though he creates non-objective art, the artist’s works nevertheless still tell a story, which is facilitated by Yury Khilko's use of symbols, signs, and myths.