Yura Matskin

When I was seven, my dad took me to a sculpture studio of the pioneers' palace in Kharkov.
Since then, taking breaks, sometimes short, sometimes long, I have been studying drawing and sculpture.
At the age of 17 I decided to try out another professional occupation, and in five years time, I got a diploma of engineer-mechanic for road-building equipment.
Two more years were spent on the army service, in the rank of lieutenant – engineer in the far away Siberia, where in winter temperatures can go down as low as minus 50 *C.

Then I returned to drawing and sculpture.

And that is what made me an artist:

- watching my father paint behind his back (he was an artist)
- attending a sculpture studio for children-
- 4 years of evening classes in the art school of Kharkov's cultural centre.
- 1 year study in art studio named after Lenchin.
- 5 years study at sculpture department of The Kharkov Art and Industry Institute

-And, of course, the personal contacts with such master-artists as A.M. Konstantinopolsky, P.P. Yurchenko as well as joint group work
with other sculptors.

I made many sculptures of different dimensions, from different materials and in different styles, both realistic and abstract - in accordance with th...