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Vadim Shamanov
Canada
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"My paintings are a fixed image of music made visible."
Vadim Shamanov, born in 1973 in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, is a professional artist with more than two decades of painting experience who now lives and works in Bratislava, Slovakia. Over those years he has become a regular participant in exhibitions across Europe, building a body of work and a reputation that extend well beyond any single country. His biography traces a path from Ukraine outward into the wider European art world, and that trajectory of movement and exchange is fitting for an artist whose work is fundamentally concerned with crossing boundaries, between media, between recognition and abstraction, and between artist and viewer.
Abstract painting 156 | Oil
$1,500
This bright and emotional painting evokes an association with velvety autumn. This is the time to slowly walk over the yellow leaves in the park, reflect on the path traveled, and think about further steps towards your goal.
His relationship with the arts began in childhood, where an interest in fine arts, music, and photography first took root and would continue to shape everything that followed. He studied music at the University of Culture and Arts in Kyiv, and music remains inseparable from his identity as a painter to this day. Afterward he took drawing and painting lessons at the art school of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine, where, under the guidance of experienced teachers, he studied the technique of classical painting along with the fundamentals of portrait, still life, and landscape. This grounding in traditional skill gave him a foundation he would later build upon and ultimately move beyond.
Windy and Warm | Oil
$1,500
This painting is inspired by the old and beautiful song "Windy and Warm," written by John D. Loudermilk. This song was superbly performed by Chet Atkins and later by Tommy Emmanuel. I heard it thanks to them, and for a long time, I was impressed by this wonderful composition. an abstract painting created with oil on canvas. No frame is needed. A rope is attached to the back. The painting arrives ready to hang.
"I never paint what I see, or what I supposedly see."
It was during this same period that his interest in abstract art arose, sparked by encounters with the work of artists he deeply admired. He was inspired by Gerhard Richter, Nicolas de Staël, Wassily Kandinsky, and Jackson Pollock, a lineage that spans gestural energy, structural color, and the spiritual ambitions of abstraction. Following these influences, abstract painting became his main means of self-expression and self-realization, the form through which he could most fully realize his creative vision. The shift was decisive, marking the moment his classical training became the servant of a freer and more personal language rather than an end in itself.
Emotional abstraction | Oil
$420
My abstract paintings are very layered. I leave some of the layers slightly visible and transparent, this allows the viewer to find more and more new forms over time, to amaze himself with finds, using his imagination.
Abstract painting allows Shamanov to convey his creative ideas through the color, forms, and texture of oil paint, and his works are immediately recognizable for their distinctive material qualities. They are distinguished by layering and by complex composition, carrying a pronounced desire for volume and depth. Through a subtle three-dimensional effect, the paintings reach outward and establish contact with the viewer, drawing the eye into a surface that seems to hold more than its flat dimensions should allow. This pursuit of depth is not merely technical but relational, a way of making the painting an active presence rather than a passive image.
The work got the name "Breakaway from Reality." This is a fantastic landscape from another dimension. This work of art was painted in oil on canvas, which I manually stretched over a wooden frame. The gallery-wrapped sides are gray. No frame is needed. A rope is attached to the back.
Breakaway from reality | Oil
$420
"A painting is successful if you can look at it for hours, or live with it for years, without ever once growing tired of it."
"My paintings are a synthesis of emotions and impressions from music and nature, never a record of what I see in front of me. The more complex the image becomes, the more interesting it is to me, like a piece of music that reveals more with every listening. I do not want to impose myself on the viewer through color or rhythm or plot, and I do not want to hand anyone ready answers. Instead I try to create an environment, a situation, a reason for thought, where each person moves further along their own path the longer they look. Painting lets me express the thoughts and emotions that are most difficult to say aloud."
Chromatic fantasy | Oil
$640
Chromatic fantasy. This many-layered painting was inspired by nature. The composition is based on midtones and is close to monochrome. Small accents of bright colors give it a cheerful and fresh look. It took quite a lot of time, about a month, because the idea was in progress during the work. Anyway, I was satisfied with the result.
While some of his paintings contain recognizable elements, with landscapes or human figures occasionally suggested within them, most of his works are completely abstract. This is a matter of genuine preference rather than limitation, since the artist is most interested in working with the abstract image, in researching and interpreting it on its own terms. His method reflects this commitment directly. He paints with a palette knife or a wide squeegee, often mixing oil paints right on the canvas itself, working to combine colors and shapes in pursuit of the ultimate power of expressiveness. The making is physical and immediate, the image emerging through direct manipulation of the material.
Jazz | Oil
530
This jazz painting appeared as a result of numerous layers of paint. Here I managed to achieve the depth of space using combinations of two active colors, blue and orange, as well as other colors that create an atmosphere.
For Shamanov, abstract painting is a kind of concentration of emotions, and this understanding shapes how he hopes his work will be encountered. Such painting, he believes, is not intended for first perception, because with each new second spent before an abstract painting the viewer moves further along their own path. The work unfolds in time rather than declaring itself at a glance, rewarding sustained attention and offering something different to each person who lingers with it. This faith in slow looking is central to his entire approach, an insistence that the real experience of the work begins only after the first impression fades.
When I create an abstract painting, I choose a visual experience that is not burdened with objects. I make the task easier for the viewer, do not let him be distracted by the objects depicted in the picture, and help him immediately immerse himself in an emotional experience.
A new beginning | Oil
$530
One of his main tasks is to create works in which there is no dictatorship of the artist or of his personality in color, rhythm, or plot, where the viewer is neither suppressed by a straightforward statement nor handed ready answers. Instead, Shamanov strives through his paintings to create an environment for the viewer, a situation, a reason for thought. This is a generous and deliberately open intention, a refusal to impose meaning that places real trust in the person standing before the work. The painting becomes a space to think within rather than a message to receive, and its openness is the very source of its power.
"I want no dictatorship of the artist over the viewer."
Color and form play a central role in this exchange, functioning as his primary means of expressing emotions and thoughts. When these elements are brought together within a painting, the work becomes a mode of communication between viewer and artist, a shared language that operates beneath words. His process honors this seriousness of purpose. Before creating a painting he spends time in thought, seeking inspiration before sketching the final composition onto the canvas, working out all the colors in his mind beforehand. Yet he remains open to change, knowing that achieving a result sometimes requires a difficult path and that the concept of a painting can transform during the act of making it.
Winter abstraction | Oil
$530
The work got the name 'Winter abstraction,' it conveys the winter mood. This work of art was painted in oil on canvas, which I manually stretched over a wooden frame. The gallery-wrapped sides are gray. No frame is needed. A rope is attached to the back. The picture arrives ready to be hung.
For Shamanov, paintings are a way of expressing thoughts and emotions that are difficult to put into words, and he regards art as a very powerful means of communicating with others. This conviction drives a constant search for new means of expression, leading him to experiment frequently with materials and surfaces. He has worked on steel sheets and OSB boards and incorporated modern pigments, producing a series of small works, many of which have been successful and now reside in private collections around the world. This experimental restlessness reflects an artist unwilling to settle, continually testing what his chosen language can carry and how far his materials can be pushed.
The work got the name "Nirvana." Here I experimentally applied paints such as gold acrylic and DYNA, which create pearlescent effects. This painting evokes a sense of calmness, self-sufficiency, and luxury.
Nirvana | Oil
$530
His exhibition history spans Europe and beyond, including personal exhibitions such as Painting and Jazz in Košice and an earlier show in Kyiv, alongside numerous group exhibitions in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United States. In 2017 he held a one-year contract with 104 Gallery in New York, and he has taken part in charitable auctions in Kyiv, including events supporting children with autism. His work has drawn reviews and publications in Ukrainian, German, and Slovak outlets, with one Ukrainian art critic observing that the content of his work should remain only vague suggestion, as in music, and noting the striking fact that these emotional paintings often emerge from the imposition of tens of layers of paint.
Tahiti | Oil
$530
The work got the name "Tahiti." Looking at this painting, I involuntarily think about Gauguin. This colorful abstract landscape and several strange shapes on the green field can give a subtle reminder of his paintings and also convey the atmosphere and flavor of this beautiful island.
"Abstract painting, for me, is a concentration of emotions and thought."
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