Coelacanth Painting

Victor Molev is a Canadian artist of Russian descent, working in the styles of Decorative Realism, Fantasy, Symbolism and Surrealism. Molev was born in the year 1955 in Gorky (present day Nizhny Novgorod), Russia. From an early age, he has shown interest in the visual arts and dedicated his time to creativity. As the artist himself jokes, his love for art derived from the fact that his grandmother was kissed by Marc Chagall in her childhood. She was his younger sister’s classmate, and often visited the Chagall household. In paintings from his childhood and early youth, Molev showed an inclination towards unconventional compositions that were free of the Soviet canons of “Socialist Realism”. In the mid-1970s, as an aspiring young artist, he took drawing and painting lessons under the apprenticeship of Moscow sculptor Tatyana Vishnyakova. It wasn’t until his early twenties that Molev became familiar with the works of Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, Rene Magritte, M.C. Escher and Frank Frazetta through books and magazines. Molev was incredibly inspired by these artists which became like mentors to him. After receiving an education in architecture, the artist worked in the field for ten years. He then worked as a set designer at the Pushkin Opera and Ballet Theatre. Both of these jobs are still reflected in the creative processes of the artist. Throughout the 1980’s, Molev was a part of many group and individual exhibitions in Houses of Culture, movie theatre foyers, research institutes, and the exhibition halls of the Association of Russian Artists. He also exhibited alongside the Gorky Union of Young Artists, of which he had been a part of since its formation. During the final years of the Soviet Union, Molev worked as a graphic illustrator for the magazine “Samizdat”. In December of 1990, Molev immigrated to Israel. The next year he became a member of the Israel Painters and Sculptors Association. He would regularly exhibit his work in galleries, exhibition halls, and community centres. The artist was constantly a part of the Nachalat Binyamin Market in Tel Aviv, as well as many other art festivals. In collaboration with the writer G.Kostovetski under the pseudonym “KOMO”, he participated in numerous international competitions of humorous drawing, which is marked by his diplomas as well as silver and bronze medals. From 2003 until 2006, the artist owned his own gallery in the city of Haifa.