Volodymyr Zelenskyy
A portrait sketch / study in gouache on A3 paper
An iconic world leader
landscape, still-life, and abstract painting
landscape, still-life, and abstract painting
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
A portrait sketch / study in gouache on A3 paper
peter robinson fine art 
You capture the man graphically. I followed his visit to the UK, the address to Parliament, with great interest.
I thought I’d do a piece in the graphic style / manner of that well-known and ubiquitous Che Guevara poster using the colours blue, yellow, and black, rather than red, white, and black, but changed my mind mostly for technical reasons… I was aware of the fact that he was in the UK but haven’t followed him as actively as perhaps one should. He is after all a rare and interesting presence, a veritable maverick, on the international political scene. God forbid (I use the expression advisedly) that some one of Putin’s ‘operatives’ should ever get close enough to him to do him harm. What a tragic loss to the world that’d be! Doesn’t bear thinking about!
I agree with all you say. I come close to hero-worship respecting Zelensky. HIs background and trajectory are the stuff of legend a-making. One wishes him safe for all our sakes. I remember the ubiquity of the Che image well, the nimbus of dark locks. I imagine Zelensky’s regular features present somewhat of a challenge artistically. Your rendering seized on the telling detail of his face. I hope you “attack” him some more (graphically)!
Yes, I may well do a further study or two of him… but currently I’m looking at the clowns and ringmasters in this crazy circus of the world we live in… and god alone knows how we got such a mediocre bunch of nobodies running the show! Seems most of them do nothing but rein in the people who got them into positions of power in the first place.
Well said. I think Hannah Arendt on how “banal” evil is, choosing an interesting word. It occurred to me when viewing your portrait (I first typed “poetry” inadvertently!) of Putin. He is physically nondescript for the most part, no salient features, yet sinister overall. Erdogan of Turkey is similar. The tyrants with smooth features and grey suits!
Yes, I agree. There are quite a few of these tyrants around. Too many in fact.
Everything was running relatively smoothly and then these slimy nonentities crawled out from under their stones.
Fortunately my days of shuffling on this mortal coil are drawing to a close.
Sad. Everything could’ve been so good.
But the meddlesome busybodies who worship power have turned what was heaven into a hellish nightmare.