Awarded the Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Art
by the Butler Institute of American Art.
22†x 30†watercolor - This is the first painting Gregory Strachov painted since the life threatening meningioma brain surgery which was completed a year ago.
Gregory Strachov, Artist
About
Strachov's paintings are hanging in private collections all over the world. He has been marketing his own work in his own quiet and unassuming way. However his work has been honored with shows in prominent museums in this country as well as abroad.During 2001, sixteen mid career artists were selected from the United States to be shown at the Chateau Musee', a museum owned by the Grimaldi family of Monaco and is situated at the top of a hill overlooking the Mediterranian in Cagnes sur Mer, France. This was an exhibition to show that there are new directions as well as new explorations in painting. Four of Strachov's works were featured and he was honored with one of four top awards.
Strachov's work as well as his lectures have earned him the respect of his peers as well as the respect of the academic community. He has conducted numerous lectures on art and theory and these have been televised as well as used as instructional material in museums and in graduate studies. Strachov's work has been exhibited throughout the United States. During his career, his work has earned sixty three prestigious awards.
The paintings of Gregory Strachov are in collections all over the world. His work has been honored in prominent museums in this country as well as abroad. His paintings of stones and granite are well known, and his series on war, the Holocaust, human subjects and emotion have won respect world wide.
Interview
Gregory
Strachov has taken a good look
at the art world and the strata
of art that is offered. He
realized that one of the major
proponents to abstraction was
the removal of the narrative. In
realism however, this is almost
impossible. If a viewer sees a
painting of a Madonna and Child,
there is a choice to see the art
or to see a painting of a sacred
event. After several years of
thought, Strachov decided to
pursue this question not as an
abstract artist but as a
realist.
"I wanted to paint great beauty which had imagery that provoked no reason for its existence other than the beauty of that moment. To do so, I had to search for a subject matter which offered no meaning other than the beauty of the object itself. I drove to the deserted landscape of the West and walked and explored the landscape for months.
In this vastness, I found profound changes in my thinking had occurred. While walking through that landscape, with each step that I took, I learned to feel more than I had to think. In this enormous and empty place I found the most where other minds see the least. My current work is the direct result of this realization."
READ ABOUT MY WORK IN WESTERN ART AND ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE!
Recipient - The Butler Institute of American Art Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Art, 2011
Presented to Gregory Strachov during the evening of May 15th 2011 at a gala event at the museum. Nineteen of his watercolor paintings were featured in the Davis Gallery of the Butler Institute of American Art. The Prestigious Medal is not given every year.
Periodically, outstanding members of the art community are selected to receive this honor. In the past, Thomas Hoving, John Singer Sargent, and Robert Rauschenberg are but a few distinguished artists who have earned this honor.
Greg Strachov - Serious Health Issues (UPDATED) - November 2019
Gregory
Strachov has had a serious medical
year. On January 11th, he had to go
through major surgery. A
meningioma tumor has been found
Greg was unable to paint all year. During October, since he is not doing shows, he decided to finally have his shoulder repaired and that healed fine after a few months. His left eye has begun to move and as a result Greg was able to see the distance the brush is from the painting surface, so he began to paint again and with much success. During February 2019 Greg had a major MRI taken of his brain. He met with the surgeon and learned the meningioma tumor is growing in an area where major nerves pass to the spinal chord. Due to all this, Greg decided to allow some of the key paintings in his own collection to become available. These are paintings that were in his parents collection.
The doctor told Greg that he needs to be operated on because he will lose control of his arms and legs within three to four years. This surgery is a vital attempt to correct this issue. If the surgeon cannot remove all of the tumor, other measures such as radiation might be used. The surgeon wanted the eye to heal a bit more and will schedule Greg's surgery during the appointment on July 30th, 2019.
The surgeon is unable to give more time for the eye to heal. He found, with a detailed MRI, that the tumor is growing at a rapid rate. Greg's surgery is scheduled to begin at 7:30 AM on August 22nd. It is a dangerous surgery due to the tumor location in the brain.
NOV 2019 UPDATE - Greg's surgery on the remaining meningioma brain tumor was a great success. There is a small portion remaining in a dangerous area that the surgeon will stop with radiation. Greg has a nice long life ahead and has begun to heal well. Six months before the initial diagnosis of the meningioma, Greg had an interesting dream. At the time he had no symptoms of illness but did a drawing of this dream in the middle of the night. The drawing shows angels high in the room overlooking a surgery. At the time, Greg had no idea that this dream was a premonition.
