Andre Kohn

En Vacances 24 x 18 Oil $3,400

Andre Kohn was born in Stalingrad in 1972 and raised in the southernmost region of
the former Soviet Union. He moved with his family to Moscow at the age of 12 and enjoyed a very successful sports career. However, his self-professed “romantic soul” led him to abandon these pursuits to study art. He surrounded himself with art-related books and reproductions, and was fortunate enough to study in the private studios of some of the most recognized artists in the country. After three years of mastering his skills and working as a scenery artist, Andre became a student at Moscow Pedagogical University. As a freshman he was invited to show his paintings at a one-man show at the Central Exhibition Hall in Ruce, Bulgaria. This led to introductions to many well-known artists, including Antony Sofev, a highly regarded painter, who was to exert a profound influence on Andre and encourage his passion for producing vibrant figurative paintings. He was also greatly influenced by many of the Russian masters. In 1992 Kohn emigrated to the U.S. and now resides in Arizona.

In 2005 Andre was invited to study figure painting along with eleven other students at the exclusive Studio Escalier located in an 18th C. chateau in a small village in France. This experience has greatly influenced his new work .

He expressed this life changing experience this way: " I was in love with and, a few weeks later addicted to, the search for the path of the human figure’s lines and form. While studying fine art at Moscow University, where I was trained classically, the whole approach to drawing the human figure was introduced to me as a more strict and mathematical exercise. The philosophy of Tim Stotz's teaching on the human figure, however, has an enormous metaphorical and symbolic power with a deep poetic outline. He helps his students learn to ‘feel’ the body with intuition. Tim inspires his students to a quick realization that we are here to grow together and individually towards our most beloved passion - searching, interpreting, creating, and immortalizing the human figure."