Yury Darash

Yury Darash, the artistic name of Yury Darashkevich, was born in Belarus and trained at the country's State Academy of Arts. He began his career in illustration and graphic design, keeping painting as a parallel activity. After several solo exhibitions, he came to devote himself entirely to artistic work and settled in Toronto, Canada.

His work spans figuration, landscape and abstraction, with visual perception as its central concern. He explores the way in which colour, line, texture and pattern alter the reading of a face, a body or an everyday object. In the words with which he describes his practice, he stresses his interest in a close relationship between the viewer and the subject of the painting, built through concentration on its essential elements.

In 2009 he was elected a member of the Society of Canadian Artists. The following year he opened a second studio in Palm Beach, Florida, extending his activity to the United States. Later he also created a workspace in Ponta Delgada, in the Azores. His exhibition career has developed between Europe and North America, with a presence in galleries in the United States, Canada and Portugal.

Among his exhibitions are "Cups, Search #1" at the National Art Museum of Belarus in Minsk in 1995, "Bremen Daybook" at the Goethe-Institut in Bremen in 1998, "Visage" at the Cornell Art Museum in Delray Beach in 2018, and "L-Structures" at the Abbozzo Gallery in Toronto in 2019. He has also taken part in international fairs such as Art Miami, SCOPE Miami and the Toronto International Art Fair.

He has received various prizes and grants, among them a Soros Foundation grant and first prize at the "White Art Festival" in Minsk, both in 1995. In 2009 he was awarded the "Best in Show" prize at the national members' exhibition of the Society of Canadian Artists, presented at the Art Gallery of Hamilton.

His work is held in public and private collections, including those of the National Art Museum of Belarus and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Belarus in Minsk, the Hilton Collection of Art and the collection of Sara Blakely in the United States, and the Volksbank and Villa Weiner collections in Germany.