Dmitri Danish was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in 1966. He was a natural
artist from the start, taking his first drawing pencil in hand before
he was able to walk or talk. His mother, an artist herself, was
the first to discover Dmitri’s talent. She saw that he expressed
his thoughts, feelings and desires through his creations, and she
started communicating with her son via color and shape. Painting
became as natural for Danish as breathing, eating, or sleeping.
By
age 5, Danish was taking his first professional painting lessons;
he was already able to paint quality landscapes, portraits, still
life’s and abstract paintings. At age 13 he was accepted into
a gifted children’s art school in Kharkiv, and by age 15 he
was enrolled at the Kharkiv State Art College (1982).
Danish’s
most favorite genre was cityscapes. He painted cities that he read
about in books, cities that he heard about on the radio or in people’s
conversations, and cities that he saw printed on postage stamps.
He created new countries in his mind and painted their cities, streets,
canals, doors and windows. Danish liked painting doors and windows
most of all because of their symbolic appeal. They let him view
and enter into unknown worlds, which he couldn’t do in reality.
His imagination was able to take him to those unusual and magical
worlds that he saw in his dreams.
In
college Danish became fascinated with Kharkiv, the city where he
was born and raised. He painted various buildings, wooden houses
and walls, small coffee shops under huge old trees, and again, doors
and windows from his Southern city. His paintings portrayed Kharkiv
as a warm and cozy place to live.
In
1986 Danish graduated from college and began to teach art. He quickly
realized that teaching art was not his ideal career – he wanted
to express himself through art, not teach others. Danish went into
the army for three years and as soon as he returned, he immediately
entered into the department of Fine Art at the Kharkiv States Polytechnic
University. He began to paint for a living.
After
two years he became a member of the prestigious Union of Ukrainian
Artists and his paintings were in much demand. His career of a fine
artist took off and he began to exhibit in Ukraine, Russia and other
Eastern European countries.
In
the year 2000 the Kharkiv State Museum of Fine Art conducted a solo
exhibition of Danish’s works called “Cities and Mountains”
and purchased three of his paintings that are part of their permanent
collection. During 2000-2001, the New Jersey Museum of Modern Art
also purchased three of Danish’s works. And, in 2003 the Ukrainian
government purchased a painting and presented it to the outgoing
ambassador of the United States to Ukraine.
Danish
has traveled most of Europe since the opening of the Russian borders
visiting cities and countries he dreamed about as a child. He has
spent time in Rome, Venice, Sienna, and in many cities of France,
Holland, Hungary, Austria, Greece, and Turkey. He will make his
first trip to the United States in 2005 for several one-man shows
on both the East and West Coasts.
