Victor Molev

Victor Molev is a Canadian artist of Russian descent, working in the styles of Decorative Realism, Fantasy, Symbolism and Surrealism. Molev was born in the year 1955 in Gorky (present day Nizhny Novgorod), Russia. From an early age, he has shown interest in the visual arts and dedicated his time to creativity. As the artist himself jokes, his love for art derived from the fact that his grandmother was kissed by Marc Chagall in her childhood. She was his younger sister’s classmate, and often visited the Chagall household.
In paintings from his childhood and early youth, Molev showed an inclination towards unconventional compositions that were free of the Soviet canons of “Socialist Realism”. In the mid-1970s, as an aspiring young artist, he took drawing and painting lessons under the apprenticeship of Moscow sculptor Tatyana Vishnyakova.
It wasn’t until his early twenties that Molev became familiar with the works of Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, Rene Magritte, M.C. Escher and Frank Frazetta through books and magazines. Molev was incredibly inspired by these artists which became like mentors to him. After receiving an education in architecture, the artist worked in the field for ten years. He then worked as a set designer at the Push...