Victor Karnaukh
Victor Karnaukh (1950, Dnepropetrovsk Oblast, Ukrainian SSR – 2012, Dnepropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine) – a painter, a monument designer, graduate of Latvian Academy of Arts. He had painted a multitude of interiors, including church plafonds and public buildings. His works are kept in private collections in the USA, Europe and Russia.
Victor Karnaukh was born in a blacksmith's family, which resided in the village of Tsibulkovka of Tsarychanka district of Dnepropetrovsk oblast.
In 1966 Karnaukh enrolled into the Dnepropetrovsk Art Academy and graduated from it in 1970 (final work "Fair"). He served in the in 1970-1972 in the Air Defence Forces. After finishing his service he deliberately chose Latvian State Academy of Arts as the place to continue his studies. "I knew a lot about Latvia and deliberately came to Riga. I didn't want to study in Russia. The ideological pressure there was too strong. The formal part of art was under a great control, creative freedom was limited. It wasn't like this in Latvia, here everything was more democratic," - Victor Karnaukh explained his choice of Latvia.
In 1973 he enrolled into the Deprtment of Painting of the Latvian State Academy of Arts. In 1979 he finished the class of monumental painting (his final work "Everyday Life of Fishermen" was painted in the technique of encaustic painting).
Victor Karnaukh had been participating in exhibitions since 1976. In 1978 he became a member of the Union of Artists of Latvian SSR, in 1982 he received membership in the Union of Artists of the USSR. From 1985 to 1990 he had been participating in an international project of designing a modern residential area Olvenschtedt in Magdeburg (Eastern Germany). The fall of socialism in Eastern Germany did not allow him to finish this project. However, Karnaukh continued to work in Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Sweden, Denmark, Japan, England. For many years he had been working in the USA, where he cooperated with different art galleries, but most of all with GUNNAR NORDSTROM GALLERY in Seatle (the state of Washington).
His last exhibition took place in his motherland, where he died.
Alexander Malnach
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