About the artist:

Vladimir Ryklin was born in 1934 in Moscow. Upon completion of his studies, he worked as an illustrator and poster artist for the Central Commercial Art Bureau. Vladimir Ryklin credits include posters for such prestigious companies as the New York City Ballet, Dresden Opera, Vienna Opera, and awards for best poster in Moscow and Bulgaria. Vladimir Ryklin is a resident of New York. Since 1975, artist had worked as a scenic artist for the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), including Saturday Live Night Show. Since 1990, Vladimir Ryklin has worked as a production designer for CBS Night Show with David Letterman. His paintings have been exhibited in such well-known New York's galleries as Nakhamkin gallery (1981), Meisner SoHo (1994), InterArt gallery (2004-2007) . Vladimir Ryklin's works are unique in that they unite the valuable lessons in realism from old masters, especially 'avant-garde' 17th century Flemish artists such as Bosch and Brueghel, with surrealistic composition of 20th century Salvador Dali. Though close affinities to the past can be noted in all his works, Ryklin's own technical proficiency, combined with an incredible breadth of imagination and inner sentiments, produce art that strikingly stands apart from the all-too-familiar contemporary works . . .' /Natasha Livit, art critic, New York City, 1998/' 'Vladimir Ryklin utilizes different themes and figures from literature, Don Quixote and Edgar Poe among others, and from music, theater, history, paintings, and his own personal life. With these he creates on canvas a world he then populates with a countless multitude of figures and objects such as the hot air balloon, symbolizing freedom. The figures and objects then busy themselves with sometimes distorted and bizarre, sometimes paradoxical, sometimes mysterious but always thought provoking activities, which inspire the mind of the observer and challenge his own imagination. The color schemes reinforce and underline the allegorical symbolism in each work and invite the viewer to contemplate and respond emotionally to it. The power of Vladimir Ryklin's art lies in its ability to attract the viewer to examine the work for hours and to become submerged in his sub-consciousness, as in a dream. They are filled with hidden meanings and personal overtones, which are only partly revealed, to be interpreted by each person in his own manner . .' /Ralph Musco, art critic, SoHo, 1994/