Gennady Pavlovich Khodak was a professional artist — and a superb painter. He painted his first work, a copy of Levitan’s By the Whirlpool, while he was serving on the front. In 1960 he graduated from the painting, drawing and interior design department of the N.K. Krupskaya National Extramural University of Art, in Moscow.
The painter spent his life “with his easel by his side”. He was a frequent contestant in art competitions and participant in exhibitions in Mezhdurechensk and Kemerovo region. The artist’s works hang on the walls of many organizations in his native city, as well as in private collections in the Kuzbass region.
The Mountain Shoria region was an inexhaustible source of inspiration for Gennady Khodak. He was full of enthusiasm for the beauty of his native region. His love of nature is evident in all his work. He painted wonderful lyrical landscape scenes. For over sixty years, he never failed to impress those who viewed his work
with his ability to depict on canvas the charm and majesty of the Siberian grasslands, boreal forests, mountains and rivers. Through his art, Gennady Khodak expressed his poetic vision of the world.
Gennady Khodak’s painting The Bare Mountain Peak depicts an attractive landscape in his native region. Viewers of the painting see the landscape of Mountain Shoria in all its beauty. Slightly red under the blue sky, ancient fir trees stretch upwards like guardians of the forest. Standing out against the background of the fir trees, their dark silhouettes piercing the lilac mist, we see a bright patch of color — a young tree with golden leaves.
The small meadow in the foreground is drenched in sunlight. The work is rich in color and has a magical charm, and fills the viewer with a sense of harmony and calm.
The artist depicts an abundant country that has long been home to the native Shor, or Kuznetsk Tatar, people, who live in the forest regions. The types of work traditionally done by the local indigenous people are dictated by the mountain landscape, with its dense spruce and cedar forest, its lakes and its rivers, with their numerous tributaries. These activities include extracting metals from ore, working with iron, hunting and fishing.
Nature has been generous in its gifts to the local residents. Mountain Shoria’s many rivers are rich in grayling, taimen (a type of salmon), dogfish, orfe and pike. In the past the forests had many large mammals, including elk, deer, moose and bears. There were also many animals hunted for fur — sable, otters and squirrels. By the age of 12, children were skilled in cross-country skiing, lived in the forest and were experienced hunters.
The indigenous Shorians followed shamanism - they worshipped Nature and honored the spirits of the mountains, lakes, rivers and forests. When setting out on a hunting trip, the hunters poured out offerings of drink to the spirit Tag-Eezi at the foot of the mountain. The local people venerated various species of tree, which were seen as intermediaries between the forest world and humans. When they arrived at a hunting site, the Shorians began by choosing a mighty cedar or spruce tree and making a sacrifice to it in order to ask the holy tree for success in their undertaking. The local people particularly venerated birch trees. These trees, more than any others, were believed to be able to bring people’s petitions to the attention of the spirits.
Gennady Khodak’s painting vividly expresses the mystery and beauty of the region’s mountains and boreal forests, and viewers are struck by its highly poetic atmosphere.
The painter spent his life “with his easel by his side”. He was a frequent contestant in art competitions and participant in exhibitions in Mezhdurechensk and Kemerovo region. The artist’s works hang on the walls of many organizations in his native city, as well as in private collections in the Kuzbass region.
The Mountain Shoria region was an inexhaustible source of inspiration for Gennady Khodak. He was full of enthusiasm for the beauty of his native region. His love of nature is evident in all his work. He painted wonderful lyrical landscape scenes. For over sixty years, he never failed to impress those who viewed his work
with his ability to depict on canvas the charm and majesty of the Siberian grasslands, boreal forests, mountains and rivers. Through his art, Gennady Khodak expressed his poetic vision of the world.
Gennady Khodak’s painting The Bare Mountain Peak depicts an attractive landscape in his native region. Viewers of the painting see the landscape of Mountain Shoria in all its beauty. Slightly red under the blue sky, ancient fir trees stretch upwards like guardians of the forest. Standing out against the background of the fir trees, their dark silhouettes piercing the lilac mist, we see a bright patch of color — a young tree with golden leaves.
The small meadow in the foreground is drenched in sunlight. The work is rich in color and has a magical charm, and fills the viewer with a sense of harmony and calm.
The artist depicts an abundant country that has long been home to the native Shor, or Kuznetsk Tatar, people, who live in the forest regions. The types of work traditionally done by the local indigenous people are dictated by the mountain landscape, with its dense spruce and cedar forest, its lakes and its rivers, with their numerous tributaries. These activities include extracting metals from ore, working with iron, hunting and fishing.
Nature has been generous in its gifts to the local residents. Mountain Shoria’s many rivers are rich in grayling, taimen (a type of salmon), dogfish, orfe and pike. In the past the forests had many large mammals, including elk, deer, moose and bears. There were also many animals hunted for fur — sable, otters and squirrels. By the age of 12, children were skilled in cross-country skiing, lived in the forest and were experienced hunters.
The indigenous Shorians followed shamanism - they worshipped Nature and honored the spirits of the mountains, lakes, rivers and forests. When setting out on a hunting trip, the hunters poured out offerings of drink to the spirit Tag-Eezi at the foot of the mountain. The local people venerated various species of tree, which were seen as intermediaries between the forest world and humans. When they arrived at a hunting site, the Shorians began by choosing a mighty cedar or spruce tree and making a sacrifice to it in order to ask the holy tree for success in their undertaking. The local people particularly venerated birch trees. These trees, more than any others, were believed to be able to bring people’s petitions to the attention of the spirits.
Gennady Khodak’s painting vividly expresses the mystery and beauty of the region’s mountains and boreal forests, and viewers are struck by its highly poetic atmosphere.
