The garden of Gethsemane Painting

The twins, Peter and Nikolay Gavrilenko were born on the 20th of June in 1953 in a small village called Dachnoe in taiga backwoods, 20 kilometers from the railway station. When they where two and a half years old, their father brought the family to a place near Krasnoyarsk. After the 8th year in the village school, they went to enter the Surikov Art College. They entered the college at the first try, though the competition was high with 5 applicants per seat. After college graduation, Peter got married and moved to Tomsk. It happened in 1974. Since the first appearance of Gavrilenko's paintings in exhibitions, he has been labeled a "hyperrealist". Peter has complicated relationship with hyperrealism; none of his works can be fully related to this art trend. The words of unknown admirer of Peter's creative work seem to be the most correct: "Peter is the father of Tomsk vanguard". Peter is certain that the essence for the artist is the feeling of personal freedom and ability of self- expression. Then the painter can let out free what he has inside. The deepest level of philosophical comprehension of life and realization of absolute creative freedom in painting are the things Peter Gavrilenko has always aspired to. It's hard to classify Gavrilenko as a painter: he is neither a hyperrealist, not vanguard painter or impressionist. And is this really necessary? Gavrilenko's painting is the expression of different facets of his enormous talent. And maybe everyone watching the Master's paintings will see and realize in them somethings very important for himself.