From Russia, With Paint

Margarita Shuster has been keeping tabs on artists from her native Russia ever since she immigrated to Cleveland 19 years ago. So it's fitting that she would make room in her art gallery for New Arrivals, a 25-piece exhibit of oil paintings, watercolors, and etchings by five Eastern European artists, including Ukranian Andrei Protsouk, who studied art in St. Petersburg, and Russian Maya Eventov. To Shuster, the pieces symbolize the artistic freedom that Russia's art colony has found since the collapse of Soviet communism. "There's something very poetic about the Russian soul. For many years, artists were only allowed to show to the Soviet people only realistic art. There was never any expressionistic pieces. But when Russian art moved to the West, artists could do any type of art style," says Shuster. "It's been very exciting, very fresh since the revolution." The exhibit is on display 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, through Saturday, April 26, at Opus Gallery, 27629 Chagrin Boulevard in Woodmere. Admission is free. Call 216-595-1376.
Mondays-Saturdays, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Starts: March 24. Continues through April 26, 2008