Artist Yaroslav Guryev: Printmaking Techniques in Contemporary Art

The subject of our interview was a St. Petersburg graphic artist, illustrator, lithographer, etcher, plein air painter and teacher — Yaroslav Guryev. We talked about the printmaking techniques in his work, the symbiosis of genres in visual art, sources of inspiration and plans for the future.

Y.O. Guryev. Khoy. 2025, linocut, 25 x 25 cm

When did you decide to become an artist?

I understood from childhood that I would be an artist. When I was a teenager my parents suggested choosing architecture, but I didn’t even consider another specialty and at the time of placement I chose the art direction, although it’s quite possible something could have come of architecture as well. For me an artistic career is the fulfillment of a childhood dream.

Y.O. Guryev. The Black Staircase. 2020, color lithograph, 50 x 40 cm

Which artists inspire you?

I am inspired by landscape painters — Arkhip Kuindzhi, Isaac Levitan. I also appreciate the artistic thinking of Gustav Klimt, so sometimes I turn to his decorative solutions. Technically Klimt is not very close to my work, but he is the artist who instilled in me a love for early 20th-century art, Art Deco and Art Nouveau styles. As for contemporary artists, my teachers have always been my guides — Rustam Yakhikhanov, Alexander Nikolaevich Fedorov, Alexander Fedorovich Kabanin. My master, who, unfortunately, has passed away, was Klim Lee — one of the pillars of the Ilya Repin St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, a great book illustrator and an amazing teacher. I am also inspired by other St. Petersburg artists: Latif Kazbekov and Alexander Lytkin. I single out Lytkin especially — he is an outstanding graphic artist with amazing ideas and concepts; his detailed works can be studied for a long time and found to be a source of inspiration.

Lithography and printmaking are important directions in your work. What draws you to working in these techniques?

If we take printmaking, I like the process of its creation. It is work with chemistry and materials that includes an element of chance. When you engrave, draw, etch, you roughly understand what happens at each stage, but at the moment of printing the magic happens: the image is transferred from any matrix — a stone, a copper plate or linoleum — onto paper. At the moment of the first print you feel the magic of the image appearing. In painting you can immediately assess the result, but here there is an element of unpredictability. The printing process is more complex, but it has its advantages: you can produce a large edition of prints, experiment with color, achieve various decorative effects. I like the wide possibilities and the variety of printmaking techniques. These include not only etching, lithography and linocut, but also their various subtypes: woodcut, engraving on cardboard and others. I plan to master all types of printmaking techniques.

You created illustrations for A. Tolstoy's novel 'The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin'. Tell us about working on this series.

This series was born from a semester assignment at the Academy of Arts. We were given the task of illustrating Alexei Tolstoy's work, and the plot of this detective story really struck me. The action of the novel takes place in the mid-20th century, an aesthetic that is very close to me. I was interested in studying that era, and a special part of the work was the search for materials and the development of the characters. I needed to find their images and costumes. I hope the audience will like the results of these creative searches. I created two versions of the illustrations — small and large. At the time of my graduation from the Academy I decided to rework the series a bit: I added new scenes, increased the scale of the illustrations and adapted them to book printing standards. These illustrations will become a full stylistic solution for the book's design.

Which exhibitions have you participated in?

I have taken part in a large number of exhibitions in various galleries across Russia and in open calls in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In Vyborg I participated in exhibitions held at the Alvar Aalto central city library. In St. Petersburg I had solo exhibitions at the 'Colors of Life' Gallery and at the ARTMUZA Museum of Contemporary Art. I also participated in international exhibitions — in the Spanish gallery Magber and in exhibitions within biennials in Serbia and China, where works in lithography techniques were presented.

Opening of Yaroslav Guryev's exhibition 'On the Stone' at the ARTMUZA Museum of Contemporary Art. 19.09.24

What are the main principles and methods you use in your teaching activities?

I try to convey basic knowledge of composition and drawing to my students in an easygoing manner. Right now we and the second-year students are working on a plaster head and the basic principles of construction. I teach them to see the whole and the particular, I show how to find the balance between the overall composition and detailing. At the same time, I try to give students freedom of expression — each of them has their own vision and I like it when they bring sketches and experiment with form and techniques. I myself constantly learn from them — exploring new materials and interesting methods.

Share your creative plans for the future.

Over time I realized that I strive for diversity and am open to artistic experiments. I would like to paint still lifes, landscapes, go on plein air trips, get closer to the field of installation and create art objects. I am also always open to projects related to book illustration.

Interview by Elizaveta Delorosa

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