About me
The Animalist Painter Anton Shkurko
My name is Anton Shkurko. I was born in 1970 in the city of Perm, which is located in the Urals – one of the most beautiful places in the North of Russia.
He started drawing at an early age. As my parents say, I was three years old when the first animal was drawn. I don't know why I, a small city boy, always liked to draw animals, while other children often draw cars, war, or knights. Perhaps something is given to us from above. And if this is the case, then you need to move along this path, create so that the work you have done is interesting for other people.
My creative credo is the relationship between animals and birds in nature, the struggle for survival in constant motion.
I learned the basics of drawing as a child in art school. Later I studied at the Zooengineering Department. The image of animals was largely promoted by classes in anatomy and sketches from nature, which were made in zoos, in the village and in nature.
I have never hunted, but I have often accompanied my hunting friends in our forests. These trips through the Ural forests, stories of hunters, books about nature and hunting, and the study of the role of animals and birds in the life of different peoples became a source of inspiration for me.
The world of animals is infinitely large and diverse. This world is in constant motion. It is movement-running, flying, jumping-that makes us admire. Even at the moment when the animal freezes for a moment, you can see the inner tension, when you realize that now, now, now and again a rapid movement will follow, you can feel all the amazing beauty that you can not help but admire.
In my works, I try to catch unusual movement, find interesting moments so that the viewer can enjoy the beauty and drama. This is probably why in my works I often depict battle scenes from the life of animals. Sometimes people say that there is a lot of aggression in such scenes. Disagree. Because often at exhibitions I watched how young children, looking at these drawings, do not see cruelty in them, on the contrary, they are interested in what and how happens in the relationship between birds and animals.
Recently, a separate topic in my work has become the role of animals and birds in the mythology of the peoples of Russia. The theme is diverse and provides a rich ground for creativity. So, the study of materials about the role of animals and the attitude to them among different peoples, combined with the author's imagination, led to the creation of a small series of paintings depicting sacred animals of the peoples of the Urals, Slavic and Turkic peoples.
Most of the works are done in colored pencil. This is my favorite art material. It is ideal for complex detailed work. At the same time, contrary to the generally accepted opinion of many painters and graphic artists, it allows you to create works of a fairly large format and transmit pictorial effects.
I would be glad if the works will allow you to plunge into the world of wild nature, see and feel the beauty of movement, to learn about the value and role of animals in traditions of the people, or just remind you of interesting things you read in books or saw in their travels if you are a hunter, a naturalist or just someone interesting variety of the natural world.
Sincerely, Anton Shkurko
Зимний Урал
