Bio:
An accomplished artist with proficient skill in many mediums, Vladimir has deep experience as a sculptor, fabricator and photographer.
He has won many Best in Show and Purchase awards for his stone sculptures, bronze sculptures, drawings and fine art photography over the course of his art career.
Vladimir has produced public art commissioned by the City of Tacoma and Tacoma’s Fern Hill Historic Business District. His sculpture is included in collections at South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia, and in the Figge Art Museum, Muscatine Art Museum, and Stanley Consultants corporate building in Iowa, where he attended the University of Iowa.
Additionally, as an Army photojournalist in Vietnam, he contributed to 4 publications while in active duty and received 3 commendation medals for photographic achievements.
Vladimir has multiple interests that range from growing exotic plants to designing and building architectural features at his home and gardens in Browns Point, WA.
Artist Statement:
I work in stone I collect locally from the Cascade foothills; nephrite jade, grossular green garnet and other hard granite-like stone that can take a good finish.
My work is about primal contemplative forms, having minimal surface planes and contours that bring the viewer to the qualities of the natural stone; its color, translucency and flow. I suggest forms that have universal symbolic attractiveness.
Like the earliest Neolithic Chinese jade carvings, that were charged culturally with spiritual meaning, I feel a similar connection when carving, touching and viewing stone.
The stone dictates much of the design, based on its natural form and flaws. It’s a collaboration, often with exciting surprises.
I want my work to convey a vitality of its own, to pull in the viewer to contemplate the moment and react spontaneously with their own interpretations.