George Oleg Pocheptsov VII (born January 29, 1992) is an American
painter,
draughtsman and
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...
.
Life and career
Early life
George Pocheptsov, who is sometimes also referred to as "Georgie", was born in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, in 1992 to
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
parents.
When Pocheptsov was eleven months old, his father was diagnosed with brain cancer; and he died in 1995, at the age of forty.
Though he was a toddler, his mother gave him a pencil and some paper to keep him busy. At seventeen months old, he drew a replica of an antique car parked across the street.
At a young age, Pocheptsov was drawing jesters, pregnant women, and four-headed giraffes, all in bright color schemes. He started to paint six months before he started to talk.
Pocheptsov attended Wrightsville Beach Elementary School in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Abstract and impressionistic period (ages 6-15)
Pocheptsov is completely
self-taught
Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning and self-teaching) is education without the guidance of masters (such as teachers and professors) or institutions (such as schools). Generally, autodidacts are individu ...
in the arts.
Pocheptsov is often compared by the press to a young
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
or
Marc Chagall, particularly for his vivid color palette and early rise to fame. His paintings can sell upward of $200,000.
Three-dimensional canvas and impressionism (ages 16-present)
Starting around the age of 16, George started to focus more on three-dimensional canvas and impressionistic art. The 3D canvas is effectively making a sculpture on canvas. George creates this effect by taking a regular piece of stretched canvas and putting layers of unstretched canvas over it, and then sculpts figures on that layer. At that point, he paints the figures with multiple layers of gesso (a primer), and once they dry, he paints the details onto the sculpture. For more detailed aspects of the sculpture, such as nose, eyelashes, fingers, etc., on a figure, he uses modeling paste. In the end, each figure in the piece has three sides, each painted, making a truly three-dimensional impressionistic piece of art.
Collections and acquisitions
In recent years, Pocheptsov has been commissioned to create paintings for
Colin Powell,
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
,
Celine Dion
Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...
,
Alain Ducasse
Alain Ducasse (; born 13 September 1956) is a French-born Monégasque chef. He operates a number of restaurants including Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester which holds three stars (the top rating) in the Michelin Guide.
Early life and career
...
,
Michael Jordan, among other famous collectors. He was commissioned to create "sculptured canvas," a self-defined technique, for the
Mitchell Camera
Mitchell Camera Corporation was a motion picture camera manufacturing company established in Los Angeles in 1919. It was a primary supplier of newsreel and movie cameras for decades, until its closure in 1979.
History
The Mitchell Camera Corpor ...
Museum in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and for the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
' 60th anniversary exhibition.
Pocheptsov was also invited to
Geneva
, neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier
, website = https://www.geneve.ch/
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...
,
Switzerland for a book titled ''The Arts and Copyright'' in which he was featured as an artistic figure.
Internationally, Pocheptsov has been featured in museums and galleries in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
,
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
, the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
,
Japan, and the
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
.
Appearance in popular culture
The media and prominent art collectors refer to Pocheptsov as a
child prodigy, especially in the earlier part of his life.
Pocheptsov art career appears in magazines and newspapers such as ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'', ''
People
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...
'', ''
Parents
A parent is a caregiver of the offspring in their own species. In humans, a parent is the caretaker of a child (where "child" refers to offspring, not necessarily age). A ''biological parent'' is a person whose gamete resulted in a child, a male t ...
'', ''
The Washingtonian'', ''US Art'', ''
Art and Antiques
''Art & Antiques'' is an American arts magazine.
History
1984 launch
''Art & Antiques'' launched its premier issue in March 1984. While the magazine disclaimed any connection to a previous publication of the same name, the company had in fact b ...
'', ''
Art News
''ARTnews'' is an American visual-arts magazine, based in New York City. It covers art from ancient to contemporary times. ARTnews is the oldest and most widely distributed art magazine in the world. It has a readership of 180,000 in 124 countri ...
'', ''
Architectural Digest'', ''
Southern Living
''Southern Living'' is a lifestyle magazine aimed at readers in the Southern United States featuring recipes, house plans, garden plans, and information about Southern culture and travel. It is published by Birmingham, Alabama–based Southern Pr ...
'', ''Spirit of the Carolinas'', among other publications. He has also made appearances on ''
The Oprah Winfrey Show
''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', often referred to as ''The Oprah Show'' or simply ''Oprah'', is an American daytime syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in Chicago, Illinois. Produced ...
'',
''
Good Morning America'', ''The
John Walsh Show'', ''
The Today Show
''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It ...
'', ''
Ripley’s Believe It or Not'', ''The Later Today Show'', and
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...
.
A documentary film detailing Pocheptsov’s life titled, ''A Brush with Destiny'', won four
Emmy Awards.
Philanthropy and charitable work
The George Pocheptsov Foundation
Pocheptsov has used his art career to fund charitable contributions to several charities. In many cases, Pocheptsov donates artwork to a charitable organization, and this artwork is subsequently auctioned at a
gala
Gala may refer to:
Music
* ''Gala'' (album), a 1990 album by the English alternative rock band Lush
*'' Gala – The Collection'', a 2016 album by Sarah Brightman
*GALA Choruses, an association of LGBT choral groups
*''Gala'', a 1986 album by T ...
or
fundraiser
Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...
to benefit the charity. To date, Pocheptsov’s charitable foundation has donated over $8 million through the auctioning of his artwork.
Just a few examples of the many charities supported, include the
America’s Promise Alliance by
Colin Powell,
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...
Pediatrics,
Duke University Pediatrics, Adam Walsh Child Resource Center,
Habitat for Humanity, the
American Cancer Society, The Brain Tumor Awareness Organization, and many others. Overall, he supports between thirty and sixty charities each year. As another means to support a cause, in 2004, Pocheptsov was commissioned to create an official
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...
for the Brain Tumor Awareness Organization.
Personal life
Pocheptsov speaks fluent
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
,
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
,
French, and
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
. He is also proficient in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
.
Education
George graduated from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
in 2014.,
The Gallery of Fine Art – 1 of 39 Dr. Suess Galleries Worldwide
/ref>
See also
* List of child prodigies
In psychology research literature, the term child prodigy is defined as a person under the age of ten who produces meaningful output in some domain to the level of an adult expert professional.
Mathematics and science Mathematics
* Blaise Pasca ...
* List of painters
* List of American artists
A list by date of birth of historically recognized American fine artists known for the creation of artworks that are primarily visual in nature, including traditional media such as painting, sculpture, photography, and printmaking, as well as mor ...
* Surrealism
* Contemporary Art
Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic co ...
References
External links
*
Brain Tumor Awareness Organization Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pocheptsov, George
1992 births
21st-century American painters
21st-century American male artists
American printmakers
Living people
Harvard University alumni
American male painters