The commandments of God

Vasily Tryndyk, Netherlands

Vasily Tryndyk was born in 1954 in Nalchik in Kabardino-Balkaria in the family of the famous artist Nicolay Zaharovich Tryndyk (1916-1987). So from the very early age Vasily knew the smell of the paint. The father was for Vasily his main teacher, his mentor and adviser. They were always together - in the studio and doing sketches outdoors. Vasily’s artistic talent revealed itself in his early childhood. When he was 9, his poster in the contest “Environmental Protection in Children’s Eyes” was rewarded and published in the “Health” magazine, as well was it on display in Kremlin. In 1972 Vasily Tryndyk became a student of the Art and Graphic Demidov School in Leningrad, which he later graduated successfully. That’s when Vasily fell in love with Leningrad/ Petersburg. Serving in the army followed this, of which Vasily still has special memories and feelings. There are a lot of portraits and sketches of his fellow soldiers left from that period, telling the stories from the military life. His artistic work was noticed and commander of the North Caucasus Military District recommended him to the Grekov studio, but being a very peaceful person Vasily couldn’t imagine his life in the army. This period in Vasily’s work can be called realistic. Attention to details, coloristic subtility, amazing life-like portraits and an ability of portraying man’s inner world. His art already showed what later became his works’ distinctive feature - an incredible feeling of colour and light. In 1982 Vasily Tryndyk became a member of the Union of Artists of the Soviet Union. His artistic achievements were noticed at various exhibitions - regional and All-Soviet Union. He paints the nature of the Northern Caucasus, its high mountains and rapid streams as well as quite evenings by the river. He enjoys painting still life... He is especially good at portraits. He can reflect on the canvas all those evanescent emotions and moods of the man, which are so hard to catch, and at the same time surprise the observer with the life-like similarity of the portraits. In the period from 1984 to 1989 Vasily Tryndyk was the main artist of the Art Foundation of the KBASSR. Year 1986. Perestroika was announced in the Soviet Union and it is the time to redefine the mission of the artist. Themes of protection of our world, protection of a human, penetration into the depth of his mind and subconscious. He is concerned about the fate of our environments both in planetary and everyday life. The series of paintings “Dumb animals” gained acceptance in the form of letter of recognition at the All-Soviet Union exhibition in Manege in Moscow in 1987. Still staying realistic in his style of painting, his works began to have an enormous symbolic value. In 1990 Vasily went abroad for the first time, to Berlin. It was a time of euphoria - the Berlin Wall was broken, but East Berlin still seems to be there with its “socialistic life”. That’s when Vasily met an owner of the gallery from the Netherlands, who invited Vasily to the West. In 1991 the life of the artist changes dramatically - he and his family came to work under the contract to the Netherlands. The difficult political situation in Russia played then its crucial role in the fact that V. Tryndyk stayed in the Netherlands for a long time. Holland met the artist very friendly - numerous exhibitions and recognizing him as an artist has followed. He is still in a search of new artistic forms of expression. The “Dutch period” is remarkable for its philosophical reflections of the essence of being. A wise man said that the world is what you are able to receive. The bigger your inner space is the more you absorb and the more abundant the world is. At last you realize that it is not what we see. And as you grow, so does the universe, because it is actually an expanding universe. All these thoughts excite the artist and he seeks for new music of colour, melodies, and sounds of the universe in painting. He creates a series of paintings “The Musicians”. The artist explores an individual musician, his music of the universe and then combines them all together in one painting and we see that the Creator was in a perfect mood when he created our world. Love is also an important theme in this artist’s work. This is the great love for life, for family, for people, for the motherland, for our planet. The artist speaks about it calmly, without pathos, because that is what love is supposed to be. There was a big break in Vasily’s work, when he didn’t exhibit his paintings for the audience, but it doesn’t mean that he didn’t work. On the contrary at this time he worked diligently as ever, following the thoughts and feelings which had always concerned him. There are a lot of artists showing how not to live. Vasily Tryndyk shows how to live, depicting alternative reality and our colourful, loving and wise home, our world. Vasily was always worried about what is happening in Russia and his connections to the homeland were not broken. For many years he has been living in two places, spending winters in Holland and summers in Russia. Almost every summer he goes to the Caucasus. In St-Petersburg he was invited to join an Artistic Association “Polyrealism XXI century” and since 2007 he participates in all exhibitions of this association. He also takes part in the exhibitions of the Union of Artists of St-Petersburg.