Artist: Alexander Antanenka Title: Mums the Word Medium: Heavily Hand Embellished Giclee on Canvas Limited Edition: 75 Signature: Hand-signed by the artist at the bottom of the image Image Size: Approximately 24 inches x 36 inches Framed: Unframed on Unstretched Canvas De t ails: This work comes with a Certificate of Authenticity Biography: Alexander Antanenka was born in the Soviet Union in the city of Brest on February 16, 1951. Alex was living a happy and content life with his wife and young daughter in the Soviet city of Minsk as a professional artist when the Chernobyl disaster claimed both his parents’ lives, who lived only twenty miles from the accident site. He experienced deep anger toward the Soviet government because of its attempt to cover up the Chernobyl disaster and its terrible effects of not evacuating immediately those who lived in the fallout zones. Very soon after this tragedy, he fled to Siberian city of Magadan to start a new life. This city was used as a place of exile by the Soviet government for various artists, poets, and politicians whose works and ideas were not of Soviet exactness. It is here, in the city of Magadan, where Alex’s work changed to reflect his emotional state of anger and sadness. His previous works were of bright, soothing landscapes which changed to dark, and dramatic. While in Magadan the Japanese showed a great interest in his art, but KGB forbid Alex to conduct an exhibition in that country. Not long after the collapse to the Soviet Union, Alex moved with his family back to the city of Minsk, Belarus. From here he was able to conduct exhibits of his work in many former Soviet cities, including Magadan in 1990, Vladivostok in 1992, Khabarovsk in 1993, Minsk and Brest in 1996, Moscow at the Kremlin in 1997, and Saint Petersburg in 1998. Alex recently moved to the United States. He is happy and at peace. As a result his works once again reflect bright and soothing colors. His paintings are held in many private collections throughout the world including the countries of Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Holland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Poland, Russia and USA.