Southwark Bridge - Limited Edition of 50 Print

For the first five years of my life I lived in a derelict building in the countryside outside Cherkassy, Ukraine. My parents were both alcoholics, so my earliest memories are of aching hunger and begging food from neighbours or collecting berries and mushrooms from the fields and forests for my two younger sisters and myself. When I was five, my mum and dad split, so we went to live with my grandmother, who was also an alcoholic and lived in a drinking den with about five men. These drunks were very cruel and bullied us with frightening threats and beatings. One day, after more than two years of living in the stinking squalor of this drinking den, by the railway station, our grandmother decided to put Nastiya and me into Smela Internat, but she kept Ira, the youngest. One day it happened that a lady saw Ira, sitting outside the apartment covered from head to toe in bruises. She took her into her own home and she learned about Nastiya and me. She had heard about a man called Vic Jackopson, who had started a home in Cherkassy for homeless children. All three of us were united again when we went to live at that home called Alpha House with our new guardians, Misha and Lyena Vishemirsky. For the first time we were a real family with other children. I have always liked to make things and to draw. This is how I entertained my two sisters in the bad days. My apparent talent was first recognised by Vic Jackopson, who has constantly over many years encouraged me to strive for excellence in life and art. I am so grateful to God that I have a gift that brings some pleasure to others. What others have said: I am humbled by what others have said about the pleasure they find in my work. Here is a sample. “It was remarkable that, from a brief encounter with the subject, he captured the true nature of my husband in the finished work - a young artist of great sensitivity and insight.” Jayne Lee, Isle of Wight, UK “I wake up each morning to the beautiful view of the Tower Bridge that Stanislav Kuchma has created and am overwhelmed by its capability of depicting the complexity of this monument that is both ancient, yet modern. I possess art from Kandinsky to Rembrandt, but this prized work from Stanislav Kuchma is what I choose to wake up to in the morning.” Arol Wolford BA., AIA, Atlanta, USA. President/CEO, Tectonic Network "His attention to detail in doing the linocuts, while still presenting a great, big picture, is superb." Dave Sunman MA, London, UK.