Jesus

© 1973 Konstantin Bokov

Jesus is a frequent guest in Konstantin's paintings. Not certain where this sighting was, but the wall in the background looks like the one around the Kremlin. Konstantin is not much of a church-goer, but he identifies with Jesus' asceticism. To him, art and nature are daily miracles and a direct link to the spiritual.

Fish

© 1972 Konstantin Bokov

Konstantine loves fishing. If you run into him and want a good topic for smalltalk (forget about sports!) you can reliably get him started on fishing. He'll tell you about how, when he was young, he would get up before dawn with his father and brother to go fishing. The whole time they would be super quiet, barely even saying a word to each other, so they wouldn't scare off the fish. This is why they'd actually catch some, unlike certain loud idiots who never caught anything. It's been a while since I've heard him tell it, but you get the idea. Before he found art, fishing was his great love.

Town

© 1973   Konstantin Bokov

A typical town in Russia during the 1970s. I'm once again amazed at the sheer variety of styles Konstantin has explored during his long and prolific career as an artist. The delicate, dreamy painting you see here was made by the same artist who makes space aliens out of plastic bottles and playful, folksy paintings of birds watering flowers.

Sorry, no Google Streetview for this one ;-)

Old Folks

© 1972 Konstantin Bokov

A few days ago, my mother came to visit and brought a family photo album. Among photos that are treasures just to us, I found a few that you might enjoy. The original paintings are still in Russia because he created them before he immigrated to the US. These must be among the oldest Bokov paintings findable on the web. I have three more, which will be the subject of the next three posts.