THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 5, 1994 TAG: 9410050040
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KIRSTEN SORTON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 113 lines
ARTIST BOGUSLAW LUSTYK has had a constant companion throughout his life.
The companion resides in his memories and in his artwork. It connects many of his experiences, from growing up in a Polish homeland devastated by war to his recent journey to America, and it has come to symbolize life, energy, freedom and beauty. His companion is the horse.
``I like horses. It is very strong in my heart,'' explains the 54-year-old Warsaw native, searching for the English words that come clumsily and only after great pause. ``In my life, very lucky moments and tragedies with horses.''
Lustyk recalls how as a child he would ride into the country and observe the beauty of nature and the horse. Those scenes, though, were tempered by the disturbing images of war.
``My first memory of World War II was not dead people, but dead horses. Always horses,'' Lustyk said.
The animal has since become the subject of countless sketches and paintings. While the artist's talents have long been recognized in his homeland, they have gained attention only recently in the United States.
Lustyk's work with horses led the International Museum of the Horse in Louisville, Ky., to invite him to showcase his work in the Kentucky Horse Park this summer. The exhibit featured more than 80 pieces and attracted many admirers.
Among them was Gay Rule-King, whose stepdaughter Christina co-owns the 21st Street Art Gallery in Virginia Beach.
King liked the color and action she saw in Lustyk's pieces so much that she convinced the artist to come to Hampton Roads.
He opened an exhibit two
weeks ago at the resort area gallery, just east of the Pavilion Convention Center. It will run through Oct. 14.
``Everyone who sees his art loves it. I don't know anything about art. I'm not an artist,'' King said. ``I've worked for 20 years in film and television, but when I saw his work I knew it was marketable.''
Lustyk agreed to let the gallery make prints of his work, so King picked four pieces and had 950 prints made of each. The signed and numbered prints sell for $80 apiece.
Lustyk's originals are done in varied techniques and mediums. He works in pastels, oils, watercolors and acrylics and has tried techniques from illustrations to weaving tapestries. An original can cost from $500 to $4,900.
Lustyk attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw where he graduated cum laude. From his graduation until 1973, he designed posters, which won him awards and recognition. Since his first individual exhibit in 1974, Lustyk has held 19 major exhibits in Poland and Europe.
While his work encompasses a range of subjects, the horse remains a central element.
Lustyk shows a drawing from his sketchbook. At first glance the page looks covered with messy squiggles. Yet, as one keeps looking at the lines, the images of horses running neck and neck materialize. Lustyk explains that from this one sketch, he can create hundreds of paintings.
``I always begin working from the horse. I go from idea to painting,'' said Lustyk, pausing to say the Polish word for ``idea'' to his wife, JoAnna, who offered the English translation. She is a member of the Supreme Chamber of Control, the equivalent of the U.S. Supreme Court in Poland.
Each of his pieces contains vibrant colors and abstract images creating action and life. In ``The Wave,'' for example, Lustyk has merged power and beauty of the sea with the horse. Bright blues and whites sweep into a breaking wave creating the head of a horse.
``I paint from imagination. I see different actions in dressage, polo and different breeds. I think I have a special feel to capture the horse,'' Lustyk said.
With every subject he encounters, he is challenged not by the physical aspects of the horse, but in capturing its soul. His understanding of horses comes from being an accomplished dressage rider himself. He has founded polo and riding clubs in Poland and also the Polish Horse Show Revue.
``Horse riding is speaking to the horse. You must know the language,'' Lustyk said. ``Every day you learn new things. It is very important because the horse speaks to you and agrees with you.''
While in Kentucky, Lustyk studied many different breeds. He attended horse training sessions and recorded the events on a roll of paper that stretched more than 200 feet. It was a chronological record of the events and people Lustyk encountered.
``It was a wonderful tool for him,'' said Jenifer Raisor, curator of collections at the William Kenton Gallery at the Kentucky Horse Park. ``He brought all of the people into the gallery. It was breathtaking to see him pose someone and draw them in a few moments.''
Only portions of the work have been shown due to its immense size.
Lustyk, who left Virginia Beach Sept. 29 to attend a carriage competition in New Jersey, plans to return to the Kentucky gallery later this week. The horse park has set up a studio for him.
Lustyk couldn't be happier about the arrange-ments.
``My life is my studio and work. I like work. It was a surprise to the people at the horse park,'' he said of his work ethic. ``The Kentucky Horse Park was very quiet and slow and very organized. Then came crazy Lustyk with work and work and more work. Every day I had new ideas,'' Lustyk said.
King said she witnessed the same attitude during Lustyk's three-week stay at her Virginia Beach home.
``All he wants to do is work. He has been painting on my patio,'' King said. ``He goes out early in the morning and he starts and paints all day long. We put our chairs out on the patio and watch him.''
Lustyk has a one-year visa, which runs out in December, but he says he wants to become a U.S. citizen and stay in America.
``I think in the next years I will work hard in America. It is very good,'' he said. ``I have many friends and good contacts until next exhibit. I see my future as very good.'' MEMO: For more information about Lustyk's prints or his local exhibit, call
Gay Rule-King at 481-1099.
ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
CHARLIE MEADS/Staff
KEYWORDS: PROFILE BIOGRAPHY ARTIST POLAND by CNB