A bleak environment encourages the imagination. While attending the dreary public schools of Donetsk, Andrei’s teachers noted his precocious talent. Andrei was transferred to the Donetsk Art School, and then to the Lugansk School of Fine Art. Later on, Andre was recommended to the prestigious Repine Academy of Art in storied St. Petersburg.

St. Petersburg is as far from Donetsk as Peoria is from New York City. Even through the bleak Stalinist epoch, St. Petersburg remained the sentimental capitol in the hearts of most Russians. Fond memories of St. Petersburg account for a certain wisfulness in the Ukrainian emigre. But it was in America that Andre accomplished his ultimate dream. With his wife and son, he moved to the United States in 1994. There he was able to meld the discipline and training of the great Russian academies with the wild freedom of expression infusing American culture. Andrei found America strange, but welcoming.

“It was like surfing....like riding the waves of the post-glasnost era. I wasn’t prepared for such a friendly welcome from Americans eager for the humble works of a poor Russian artist,” says Andre, with a trace of irony in his expression.

A question often asked of Russian émigré artists is how their work was changed by moving to their adopted country.

“I owe a great debt to both worlds....to freedom and tradition... and also to my brilliant professor E. Moiseenko during my studies in St. Petersburg”, observes Andre.

Both new and old traditions of influence are reflected in Andrei’s recent paintings. Andre makes frequent and playful references to American iconic symbols in his new work. Female football players, jazz musicians, svelte dancers, archly sophisticated diners in evening dress, sexy billiard players, even beachgoers are given new meanings and arranged into intersecting planes and fractured mosaics of sensuality and power.

But success has its perils. In an interview conducted between a bombardment of phone calls, Andrei shows me a stack of legal papers. These letters, back and forth to Singapore, have thwarted a copyright thief from marketing crude copies of Andre’s work in several Asian galleries. Andrei Proutsouk smiles patiently.

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, they say. So I will take this as a compliment. These days I don’t have time even to be angry,” he chuckles.