Pavel Aleksandovich Lazarev was born January 11, 1954 in Srednyaya Akhtuba in the Volgograd region of Russia. As far back as he can remember, he always was artistic and drew pictures yet he didn’t have formal training until he was an adult. This hobby became purposeful work only in 1981, when he began to study in one of the best Moscow art schools – The School of 1905 (named after the revolution). He was taught to be an interior designer. Simultaneously with his studies and even after graduation, Pavel worked from 1981 to 1990 with the Podolsk Art Fund as a designer.

 

In 1990 Pavel began working as a freelance artist. In many respects the formation of his personal style was influenced by the French painters of the late 19^th century, the impressionists, post impressionists and expressionists. He was also heavily influenced in his homeland by Russian symbolism; artists M. Vrubel and V. Serov. In addition, paintings of the ingenious Dutch artist, Van Gogh, were key in the formation of Pavel Lazarev’s style. The strokes of imposing colors placed close together in a chain give vibrating rhythm and character to his paintings. Color combinations of primary colors help achieve harmony within the paintings. The use of this style represents a masterful knowledge and grasp of the dynamics of painting.

 

Most notable among Lazarev’s paintings are those with prevailing warm colors. The spell cast through Lazarev’s perception of the landscape reminds us of the works of Van Gogh. Certain elements are reoccurent in his paintings: a twirled vertical sky, the southern trees reminiscent of burning candles or torches, thistle bushes, red arrows on a golden field of wheat. Some paintings by Lazarev remind us of a bright carpet come to life. Dense strokes in varying direction give movement to the painting.

 

The basis of Pavel’s paintings are not only influenced by the work of Van Gogh, but mostly by an attempt to convey the celebration of life and of nature, through the volume of a color stain that makes the subject of the painting more vivid. Lazarev occasionally incorporates ‘alien materials’ (sand, dirt, etc.) into his paintings, a practice unique to the Vladamir School, achieving not only a composition of color, but carrying a characteristic texture.