Аркадий Ескин

 Y eskin does not like to sign his works. If he has the patience of putting his signature and giving a title, he almost never marks the year. And it is also impossible to array his works chronologically: everything will be approximate and inexact. And should one do it? He is so sincere and honest in each painting, so singular is his artistic language that expresses the years of love and youth, the times of revelations and discoveries, the choice and passions, paternal care and affection, feasts and hangover, disease, heartache, the loss of the be- loved one and anguish… — all that is called a human destiny, all that makes it easy enough to follow the artist’s destiny. Art and life permeate each other in his works so intensely, that one gets an impression that the artist’s biography is dissolved throughout the space of his cre- ation… A Y was born on April  th ,  in the village of Uvelka of the Tchelyabinsk region. He spent his childhood in the village of Ku- mak in the Novoorsky district of the Orenburg region. And he kept drawing all the way. Hav- ing left school he went to conquer Leningrad. Within three years he managed to study at the architectural faculty of the Leningrad building and engineering institute, at the artistic drawing faculty of Herzen teachers training institute and finally in  entered Mukhina higher arts and “A bush of lilac is better than orchids, and dandelions, and thistle…” R. Bradbery teaching school, where he had completed his higher education by . Yeskin embarked on his creative road as a graphic artist. He tried to work in various graphic techniques: etching, linocut, but it was water colour that mostly attracted him. In  Arkady Yeskin takes part in the IV All-Union exhibition of water colour painting in Moscow and in  he participated in the All-Union exhibition of water colour and drawing works in Leningrad. That is what was written about him: “Water colour genres on rustic themes, tiny in size, by the Orenburg graphic artist A.Yeskin are charming with that special love of the painter for what he depicts”. Today, speaking of Yeskin, we would hardly use the word “charming” — this is not about him. However, in the -s the process of the self-identification as an artist was going on, he had to prove his own capacity. “Tiny” water colours of Yeskin gradually grew to be- come metre-size, the fragments of idyllic rustic landscapes took on quite a different mood, but preserving forever the “artist’s love for what he depicts”. Together with other Russian painters Yeskin visited Altay, as a graphic artist he spent a season at “Tchelyuskinsksya”. Without doubt, the “water colour” period was an impetus to fur- ther development and strengthening of a Master. In  Arkady Yeskin entered the Union of artists of Russia. In the Orenburg branch of the UA he has always been an individuality which