On the outskirts of St. Petersburg, where the peaceful natural world borders the city’s vain world, lives a unique artist, Igor Geko. He wants to be true to himself in this place of contrast. Miraculously he skillfully maintains a balance in his creativity between painting and poetry, between fantastic plots and realistic pictures of everyday life, between novelty and the strong influence of traditions. He was even born between the meeting point of two zodiac signs, Leo and Cancer.
Geko’s childhood near St. Petersburg, on the shores of the Gulf of Finland in the small town of Zelenogorsk, was very peaceful. Although as a youngster he looked at the world with a truly grown-up view, he still today utilises the inquisitive mind of a child. His natural surroundings also left an imprint on his young mind, enabling him to form sensitive and keen powers of observation.
Geko chose a long, alternative path to reach his creative destination and to reveal the development of his inner self. He didn’t receive a classical education but was instead a student of life; observing movements and changes in his environment. He spent all his free time among the masterpieces in the Hermitage and Russian Museum. Here he learnt to comprehend the secrets of painting skills by peering at the canvases of such masters as El Greco, Rembrandt and Van Gogh. His five years working as a painter and plasterer at the Russian Museum could also be called a “study time”. Geko often wandered about the halls gazing at the works of Kuingy, Levitan, Filonov and Kandinsky. All of them were his teachers.
From this point Geko’s journey of artistic creativity began. It was very busy, filled with his everyday work, marked by exhibitions in Russia and Germany, three books of poetry and paintings.
Perhaps the most striking feature in Geko’s works is the astonishing accuracy of his images, even if they are absolute fantasy and inconceivable. The energy of his thoughts is personified in an incredible colour palette, the tint of every fleeting feeling and mood is reproduced very precisely. All his works are united by one aspect – the possible immersion into his inner world where he invites the viewer to follow the path of his irrepressible imagination.
Every painting has its own interpretation of the beauty of existence, no matter what it is – a modest country landscape or a surrealistic scene breathing with a fullness of colour. Each work is a riddle of allegories where a concealed sense is hidden and a poetic idea is clear only to the artist himself. It is a fascinating game for the viewer to try to find at least one answer from many possible.
