05/21/2026
ARTIST OF THE WEEK!! Vasily Kafanov is a Russian-born artist whose work blends surrealism, symbolism, folklore, and personal memory into richly detailed visual stories. Vasily Kafanov was born in Moscow, Russia, in 1952 where he trained in the Soviet art tradition. Kafanov began his career in illustration before moving to New York, where his work expanded into painting, printmaking, sculpture, and mixed media. His work blends surrealism, symbolism, folklore, and personal memory into richly detailed visual stories. The dreamlike compositions often reflect themes from Russian culture, his childhood, and mythology, with recurring motifs like musicians, towers, fish, and floating architectural forms. As a child in Moscow, he wanted an aquarium, but his family had no room, so his mother gave him two fish in a jar. When the fish disappeared, his grandmother told him they had “flown away,” which inspired his flying fish imagery that can be seen in many of his works. He drew inspiration from Marc Chagall to create imaginative worlds that invite viewers into a space between fantasy, history, and lived experience.
