Artist, book author, juror

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Education:

Repin Academy of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Graphic Department

 

Achievements

An author of Book series “Masters of Watercolor” – “Music Planet”, 2012 - 2021

Co-founder and art director of the digital magazine “Planet of Watercolor” – 2015-2019

Co-founder of the “Masters of watercolors” International Exhibition, St.Petersburg, 2015, 2018

Jury member in Fabriano Biennial since 2016, 

Jury member in Young artists contest by IWM, UK, 2021

The award of Biennale Art Bridge in the genre Seascape in 2005, Diploma 1st grade in cityscape at Art Bridge Biennial, 2017 and 2021.

His works are in collections of local museums, private and corporative collections in Europe, Asia and America.

 

Selected Solo exhibitions:

Solo Show at Erarta Contemporary Art museum, St.Petersburg

Solo Show at the Congress Palace, St.Petersburg

Solo Show in Cawah Gallery, Hong Kong

 

Selected exhibitions:

• Fabriano Biennial, jury board

• National Watercolor Society International Juried exhibition, USA

• ArtLife Fest, Moscow, Russia

• International Watercolour Masters Exhibition, England

• IWS exhibitions in China, India, Pakistan, Holland, Thailand, Malaysia, Albania

• Continents, Russian and Chinese masters exhibition, Steglitz Art Academy, St.Petersburg, Russia

• Habitat, group exhibition, The Hermitage, Russia

• Silk Road International Festival III, IV, Xi`an, China

• Shanghai IWS Biennial, China

• Following Masters, Shanghai

• Nanjing International, China

• Qingdao Spring Salon, China

• Chen Xidan Anniversary Exhibition, Shanghai, China

• Masters Of Watercolor, exhibition St.Petersburg, co-organiser

 

Konstantin Sterkhov is a watercolour artist with realist painting background obtained from the Academic training  integrated with the design experience that he acquired  when working in Beauty Industry and advertisement. He is an author of a book series Masters of Watercolor and a co-organizer of the same name International Exhibition in St. Petersburg. For the last decade he has been invited to serve in a jury panels of a few exhibitions.

As a watercolor artist and enthusiast of watercolor techniques, he has been exploring this medium for over 30 years, transitioning from a strictly academic realist approach to a more loose manner of painting and then back to realist graphic aesthetics.   His constant traveling has enabled him to develop a keen observational quality when depicting people in various situations.

 

“Everything that seemed unshakable - life, habits, achievements - turned out to be fragile and was broken in a moment. It turned out that all the important things can fit in a suitcase and on a memory stick.

One country after another… Maybe it might be good here? Let’s drop anchor, recollect our life… I wanted to transmit the feeling of the moment’s fragility, the seeking of new meanings, and the attempt to treasure inside oneself all that is really important My latest series focuses on impressions from the past two years. People remain at the center of my observation, depicted in various circumstances and expressing a range of emotions. 

Whether native or foreign, my immigrant feelings are distinctly applied to these characters. This series has a more graphic feel compared to my previous watercolor paintings. The characters are rendered realistically, while the surroundings resemble theatrical decorations, at times transforming into symbols that convey either my own emotions or those of the characters. The presence of untouched white paper, creating empty space, serves as a perfect background not only for my subjects of observation but also symbolizes the starting-from-a-clean-page aspect of immigrants’ lives. For this series, I have deliberately chosen only two watercolor paints that emulate graphic mediums like graphite, chalk coal and sanguine. These paints possess a strong granulation property, allowing me to experiment with textures.

In essence, the characters in my series find themselves in moments of contemplating the future, making decisions, and engaging in introspection. It is a delicate moment, regardless of the ensuing solution, and it is this fragility that inspired the name of the series.”

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