BEND OF THE RIVER

Started taking drawing and painting classes at age nine in art school, Zufar was eleven when he painted his first plein air works; depicting nearby village cottages and a horse resting next to a carriage delivering pies to the local market. He found this kind of painting was so different from painting a still-life or a model in the art school studio. He fell in love with landscape painting and started exploring the language of direct expression of what just in front of him.

Zufar's interest in painting came early in life from the influence of his father, a well-respected specialist in engineering. His father's dream to become an artist could not be realized in post WWII Soviet Union during Stalin's regime era. Being accepted to Nicolai Fechin Art school in Kazan (Russia), he had to switch to the school of Engineering and Architecture. "My dad never pushed me into an art career", recalls Zufar, "however, albums of my father's watercolors and a library of Russian Fine Art at our home, along with my father's paints and brushes ? this environment became fertile soil for the seed of my artistic talent to grow."

When the time came to choose a college and profession, his soul calling for need to help people led Zufar to a medical career. During his study in medical school, residency, and finally a move to the United States, art never was left behind and continued to be an essential part of his self-actualization. Zufar was honored to participate in the exhibit "Doctors Paint" in the State Museum of Fine Arts in Kazan and at Yale School of Medicine.

Zufar's town and landscapes style lean towards Russian and Soviet era impressionism. For him art is a continuous experimentation and growth. Through over a decade, traveling and painting in the US changed his painting palette to a higher key.

Spur of interest to plein air painting in the United States brought the artist to national level competitions, where he won a number of awards. Among others, Zufar treasures most his several Artist Choice awards at Plein Air Easton (Maryland). Receiving "Medal of Honor and Merit" from Kent Art Association (the first art organization in the US he had joined) is another one of his most memorable achievements. The Award of Irvine Museum, he received recently at the Laguna Plein Air national competition (Laguna Beach, California) is another valuable award he was honored to given.

His works are widely present in private collections in the United States, from New England to California, in the UK, Spain, and of course in Russia.
Zufar has a number of followers of his art and considers teaching art another significant point of his artistic career.

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Major influences

Isaak Levitan, Valentin Serov, Konstantin Korovin, Willard L Metcalf, Joaquin Sorolla, W M Chase, Gustav Klimt.

Selected Awards and Exhibitions

2018 - Plein Air Easton, Third Place Award. Easton, MD.

2018 - Award of Mid-Atlantic Plain Air Association. Wayne Plein Air. Wayne, Penn.

2018 - Award of Excellence. Members’ Spring Juried Show. Kent Art Association. Kent, Conn.

2017 - Grand Prize, Award of Excellence. Connecticut Plein Air Painters Society. Southington, Conn.

2017 - Precious Water Award. En Plein Air Texas Invitational. San Angelo, Texas.

2017 - Distinctive Merit Award. Laguna Plein Air Invitational. Laguna Beach, California.

2017 - Founders' Award/Best in Show. Spring Juried Show at Kent Art Association. Kent, Conn.

2017 - Exhibition "Dusk till Dawn" at The Irvine Museum Collection at the University of California. Irvine, California.

2017 - Best in Show/ Founders' Award at Spring Juried Show, Kent AA. Kent, Conn.

2017 - Atlanta History Center Insiders Plein Air Award at Atlanta-Olmsted Plein Air 2017. Atlanta, Georgia.

2016 - Irvine Museum Award at Laguna Plein Air Invitational XVIII. Laguna Beach, California.

2016 - Exhibition: American Masters. Salmagundi Art Club. New York, NY.

2016 - Awards: 1. Artist Choice Award, 2. Best Composition, 3. Best Nocturne at Plein Air Easton XI. Easton, Maryland.
2016 - Solo Exhibition and Artist's Talk: “Exploring America's Beauty: Artist's Way to Go. Gloria Cachion Gallery at SPL. Southbury, Conn.
2016 - Canson Award at Plein Air Wayne. Wayne, Penn.

2016 - Awards: 1. Best of Gillette Castle Paint-out Award, 2. Jerry's Artarama Award at Connecticut Plein Air Painters SocietyAnnual Show. Putnam, Conn.

2015 - Award: Artists Choice at Tilghman Island Paint Out. Plein Air Easton X, Maryland.

2014 - Awards: 1. Best Use of Light, 2. Artists Choice Award at Plein Air Easton IX. Easton, Maryland.

2014 - Solo Exhibition. Gallery on the Green. Norwalk, Conn.

2013 - Grand Prize at Connecticut Plein Air Painters Society Annual show. East Hartford, Conn.

2013 – Award: Best in Show - Connecticut Schooner Plein Air Festival. New London, Conn.

2013 – Award: 1st prize in Oils at Old Greenwich Art Show. Greenwich, Conn.

2012 – Award: Grand Prize at Finger Lakes Plein Air. Canandaigua, NY

2012 – Award: 1st prize in Oils at Old Greenwich Art Show, Greenwich, CT

2007 - 2016 - Numerous Awards of Excellence. Kent Art Association. Kent Conn.

2009 - Solo Show. Kent Art Association, Kent, Conn.

2008 - Medal of Merit. Kent Art Association. Kent, CT.

2007 - President’s Show. Best in Show, Anthony E. Wallace Memorial Award. Kent Art Association. Kent, CT.

2006 - One Man Show. Gallery at Pomperaug Woods, Southbury, CT

2005 - Two Artists from Russia, Fenn Gallery, Woodbury, CT

2004 - Yale Art Place Show, Yale School of Medicine. New Haven, CT

2003 - Vanguard Traditions in Contemporary Art of Tatarstan, State Museum of Fine Arts, Kazan, Russia

2003 - Spring Crown, Central Exhibition Hall of Artists’ Union. Kazan, Russia

2002 - Doctors Paint. State Museum of Fine Art. Kazan, Russia.

Affiliations

Oil Painters of America

Professional Union of Artists of Russia

Lyme Art Association

Laguna Plein Air Painters Association

Kent Art Association

Connecticut Plein Air Painters Society